tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57257635244278100052015-02-27T18:50:57.204-08:00Bookviews by Alan CarubaA monthly report on the best in new fiction and non-fiction books. Alan Caruba is a charter member of the National Book Critics Circle and has been reviewing for more than five decades. Bookviews does not review e-books, nor accept galleys, only finished, published books should be sent. To request a review, first email acaruba@aol.comAlan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-90787361555251819942015-02-27T05:54:00.000-08:002015-02-27T11:39:36.479-08:00Bookviews - March 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GHtwW08Dx9c/VOyROaA_hHI/AAAAAAAAQKk/Qf4T2-hq3ME/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BNazi%2BOaks.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GHtwW08Dx9c/VOyROaA_hHI/AAAAAAAAQKk/Qf4T2-hq3ME/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BNazi%2BOaks.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A remarkable book about the roots of environmentalism, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nazi Oaks: The Green Sacrifice of the Judeo-Christian Worldview in the Holocaust, </b>($26.35, Advantage Inspirational, softcover, available on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nazi-Oaks-Sacrifice-Christian-Worldview/dp/0692381465/ref=dp_ob_image_bk.">Amazon.com</a>, by R. Mark Musser was first published in 2010 and is now just been updated and reissued in its fourth edition. It deserves a far wider readership than it has gained until now because in part it is not an easy read, but also because it is one of the few books to explain how the Nazi ideology evolved over the decades to reach a point where it initiated the deliberate extermination of Europe’s Jews. The most astonishing aspect of this is how interwoven its belief system was with the environmental “truths” we are still hearing and reading today. For example, Ernst Haeckel, the father of German Social Darwinism, was the man who coined the word “ecology” in 1896. The Nazi “science” that justified racism drew on German romanticism, existentialism, and nature worship. The Nazis incorporated environmentalism into their lives and beliefs, abandoning the Judeo-Christian God for “gaia”, the Earth god. Mark Musser came to his discovery of the inherently evil roots of environmentalism by way of a Master of Divinity in 1994 and missionary service in Belarus and Ukraine for seven years. He is a pastor by trade. I cannot recommend reading this book in strong enough terms because it is a warning that explains why so much of what passes for environmentalism today carries within it the seeds of evil that triggered the Nazi era. Having failed to carry off the “global warming” hoax thanks to the past 19 years of the planet’s cooling cycle, its advocates are now embarked on a “climate change” hoax, claiming it is “man-made.” It is not, but the evil that men do is.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In March 2014, in a commentary on my blog, Warning Signs, I wrote “Do you have the feeling that we no longer have government from the federal to the local level that is able to function because of vast volumes of laws and regulations that have made it impossible to do anything from build a bridge to run a nursing home? If so, you’re right. The nation is falling behind others who do a better job by permitting elected and appointed officials to actually make decisions. We are living in a nation where lawsuits follow every decision to accomplish anything. This is the message of Philip K. Howard in a book that everyone concerned for the future of America should read; “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government</b>.” Happily, a softcover edition has been published ($15.95, W.W. Norton) and, if you missed the opportunity to read it last year, I strongly recommend you do so this year. Howard explains why just changing leaders does not change a Washington which is drowning the nations in laws that often run to more than 2,000 pages in length. The result is a monstrosity of regulations that tell officials and citizens what to do and how to do it. A mammoth government renders decision-making virtually impossible and the result is that our schools, our health care system, and virtually every other element of life is paralyzed or unaffordable. There is, in a word, no accountability, no one who need take responsibility. Putting people back in charge of our government is the heart of this excellent, entertaining, and frightening book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Have you always wished you had an opportunity to read the classics of literature when you were in school? These days entire generations pass through our schools without more than a brief introduction to Shakespeare or Chaucer. In contrast to that, for 28 years in Naples, New York, you didn’t go to college without passing Alan Griesinger’s Advanced Placement English class. And they loved it. You’ll understand why when you read his book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Comic Vision of Great Constancy: Stories about Unlocking the Wisdom of Everyman </b>($29.95, Mascot Books). He provides insights drawn from a reading of “The Knight’s Tale” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” They serve as a literary framework for Griesinger’s side trips into politics, religion, psychology, and the general art of being human. His classes were a training ground for character development, good citizenship, and rigorous thinking. His book has the same effect and is very likely to make you the smartest person in the room after you’ve read it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Improving Your Life<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There has been one genre of books that has been around since books were first being published. They are books that impart advice on various aspects of one’s life to help the reader improve in some respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rRsLTxkH_f8/VOyRYIZA3TI/AAAAAAAAQKs/1qxnmvhjRLU/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BIt's%2BNot%2BWho%2BYou%2BKnow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rRsLTxkH_f8/VOyRYIZA3TI/AAAAAAAAQKs/1qxnmvhjRLU/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BIt's%2BNot%2BWho%2BYou%2BKnow.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who You Are: Life Lessons from Winners </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Pat Williams with Jim Denney ($16.99, Revell). With more than fifty years of professional sports experience and already an author of dozens of books on leadership, Williams shares how he found success in his family and career. He realized early in life that learning how to become successful meant learning from those who had. He never missed an opportunity to ask those at the top of their field what they felt was the key to their success. He has met more famous people than most of ever will. They include Martin Luther King, Jr., Billy Graham, John Wooden, Michael Jordan, Colin Powell, and George W. Bush, to name a few. And he kept notes on what they told him. This is a book about developing your own character and values because those are ultimately the keys to success. Williams is senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting Back Out There: Secrets to Successful Dating and Finding Real Love after the Big Breakup </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Susan J. Elliott ($14.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) may be just the book for women that you or someone you know needs to read. As she acknowledges, overcoming a breakup can be a real challenge and, often, to be successful in the next relationship, we must understand the parts of us that broke up, too. This involves learning to recognize, evaluate, and change the negative patterns that interfere with our relationships, but she says it can be done and her book teaches here readers to set appropriate standards in the dating world. She does not shy from the fact that exes, children, and boyfriends with kids are components of the modern dating scene. Getting back out there may be tough, but says Ms. Elliot, infinitely rewarding, if done right.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_4BtM4SBXFE/VOyRfcdzdCI/AAAAAAAAQK0/T4gDhNNjRRs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BRomancing%2BYour%2BBetter%2BHalf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_4BtM4SBXFE/VOyRfcdzdCI/AAAAAAAAQK0/T4gDhNNjRRs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BRomancing%2BYour%2BBetter%2BHalf.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Romancing Your Better Half: Keeping Intimacy Alive in Your Marriage </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Rick Johnson ($12.99, Revell, softcover) explains why romance and intimacy are so vital to marriage, how men and women differ in their intimacy needs, and what steps they can take to enrich their marriage and even bring back the excitement of when you first fell in love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>He encourages couples to rethink the way they communicate and interact to keep that excitement alive as a couple in a long-term relationship grows through shared experiences, sharing difficulties, and maintaining closeness to one another. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Many people, including church-goers, still yearn for a deeper experience of God in their everyday lives. A leading Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, offers Greg Paul’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Simply Open</b>($16.99, softcover) that offers a path to using your five senses, your mind and heart, to engage in the practice of prayer that can turn an ordinary workday into a deepening spiritual journey. Paul is a pastor and member of Sanctuary in Toronto, a ministry for the most hurting and excluded people in the city. He has authored three earlier books, one of which was a 2012 Non-fiction Christian Book Award winner. Though Christian in context it has a holistic approach that other contemplating religions employ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">All About Women<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The role of women in modern societies has been changing for a long time. For example, the National American Woman Suffrage Association was founded in 1890 and a number of states had granted it in the first two decades of the last century, In 1919 Congress passed the 19<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Amendment and a year later 36 states had ratified it. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Remembering Inez: The Last Campaign of Inez Milholland, Suffrage Martyr</b> ($14.95, Graphic Press. Softcover) tells the story of one of the lesser known suffragettes. Using her own words, edited by Robert P.J. Cooney, Jr., it takes you back to an era that was as dramatic as any that followed. Ms. Milholland was a dynamic New York attorney, a young activist who while on a tour of western states collapsed on stage in Los Angeles on October 23, 1916 and died a month later of pernicious anemia. She had just turned 30. History is filled with such remarkable personalities and, though it took nearly a century, it is good to know that Ms. Milholland is now recognized as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Women After All: Sex, Evolution, and the End of Male Supremacy</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Dr. Melvin Konner ($26.95, W.W. Norton &amp; Company) will surely cause male readers to feel uncomfortable. The author is a professor in the Emory University Department of Anthropology and the Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. The author of several books, this one looks at the widespread debate about the future role of women (and men) in human society, taking a look at the animal kingdom in general and our current patriarchal ways in particular, predicting that women will increasingly take leadership roles. He asserts that women are biologically more adept at dealing with the challenges of the modern world. They are fundamentally more pragmatic as well as caring, cooperate as well as competitive, and generally more deft in managing people without putting them on the defensive. They are, he says, builders rather than destroyers. This is, to say the least, a fact-filled look at a highly charged topic and one that I am sure many readers will want to explore.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Oc395MLfOWM/VOyRmttdwAI/AAAAAAAAQK8/7qGdJ2kgMPI/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBehind%2BEvery%2BGreat%2BMan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Oc395MLfOWM/VOyRmttdwAI/AAAAAAAAQK8/7qGdJ2kgMPI/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBehind%2BEvery%2BGreat%2BMan.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Behind Every Great Man: The Forgotten Women Behind the World’s Famous and Infamous </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">($16.99, Sourcebooks, softcover) takes its title from the cliché that behind every great man is a woman who contributed to his success. Marlene Wagman-Geller has taken a look at this and her book features forty women who were overshadowed by the males in their lives, yet merit their own place in history. She ranges from the wives of literally figures such as Oscar Wilde, Ian Fleming, and C.S. Lewis. There are Hollywood wives such Alma Reville, Mrs. Alfred Hitchcock and Jane Nebel, Mrs. Jim Henson. She notes the role played by Kasturba Kapadia, the wife of Mohandas Gandhi and Emilie Pelzl, Mrs. Osckar Schindler. There were some infamous ones as well such as Mrs. Julius Rosenberg, convicted along with her husband as a Soviet spy. Imagine, too, being Althea Leasure, Mrs. Larry Flynt. The short biographies salute the women who stood behind their men, for better or worse, and helped steer the course of history.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting Down to Business<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement: A Primer for Becoming the Best in the World </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">($23.00, McGraw-Hill) by Joakim Ahlstrom, regarded as Sweden’s leading authority in creating a continuous improvement culture. His book is a step-by-step process for any organization that applies principles such as “keep it simple, stay focused, visualize the good examples and the program made, create ownership by asking instead of telling, and be systematic.” He has advised dozens of organizations around the world to include Coca Cola, Volvo, Ericsson, and IKEA. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">From Worry to Wealthy: A Woman’s Guide to Financial Success Without the Stress</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> by Chellie Campbell ($16.99, Sourcebooks, softcover) begins by noting that more than nine million U.S. businesses, generating $1.4 trillion in sales, are owned by women. A personal finance guru, Campbell, has offered “Financial Stress Reduction” ® workshops to help women win at work and in life. Her advice will prove very helpful to any woman as she teaches how to harness the four C’s of career success, confidence, charisma, clients, and cash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>She writes about earning support from spouses and loved ones while gaining business knowledge from everything you do. This includes poker as she is an avid tournament player. This is a book from which any woman business owner can benefit.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">What to Do to Retire Successfully: Navigating Psychological, Financial and Lifestyle Hurdles </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) by Martin B. Goldstein addresses some of the scary questions that occur such as whether you will have enough funds to maintain your lifestyle, will you be able to adjust to a slower pace, and how best to transition into retirement successfully. A neuropsychiatrist by profession, his book will prove quite useful to anyone approaching their retirement years and that includes the 77 million baby boomers that are slated to retire over the next twenty years. Retirement fears are common and this book addresses them and offers some good advice; the kind you need now, not ten or twenty years from now when it could be too late.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love reading history and one of my great favorites from American history is Thomas Jefferson. Addressing a group of scholars, John F. Kennedy said “<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;">I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>One of the enduring discussions about Jefferson involves his religious beliefs. Some say he was a deist unaffiliated with any particular religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Doubting Thomas? The Religious Life and Legacy of Thomas Jefferson </b>by Mark A. Beliles and Jerry Newcombe ($29.99, Morgan James Publishing) will put to rest all the doubts raised in the past. For example, during his presidency, Jefferson attended church at the U.S. Capitol Building’s Supreme Court chambers where a public service was held. This is contradiction of the assertion that he believed in a strict separation of church and state. This book is based on extensive documentation, often providing little known facts based on his letters, as well as his relationships and activities with religious communities. It is an absorbing read and it is supported by </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Selected Religious Letters and Papers of Thomas Jefferson</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ($29.95, America Publications) edited by Mark A. Beliles. It offers more than fifty Jefferson letters and other documents never before seen in print. The enemies of religious belief and expression in America will not want you to read either of these books.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, the history of America has its darker moments and the treatment of the Native Americans is surely one of them. Terry Mort’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thieves’ Road: The Black Hills Betrayal and Custer’s Path to Little Bighorn </b>($25.00, Prometheus Books) tells the story of General George Armstrong Custer’s expedition of some one thousand troops and more than a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>hundred wagons into the Black Hills of South Dakota in the summer of 1874. A severe economic depression had spurred hordes of white prospectors to the Sioux Indians sacred grounds and the trampling of an 1868 treaty that granted the Black Hills to the Sioux. The discovery of gold was the beginning of the end of their independence and their resistance set the stage for the climactic Battle of Little Bighorn. The book’s title gets its name from the Sioux leader, Fast Bear, who called the trail cut by Custer the “thieves’ road.” It was a time when the settling of Indians on reservations was betrayed, a corrupt federal Indian Bureau existed, and the building of the western railroads was transforming the nation. The book makes for lively reading and considerable insight to this period of our national history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-it34xtxVVGI/VOyR131b1xI/AAAAAAAAQLE/m3Bykt7bUQU/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHandy%2BMilitary%2BHistory%2BAnswer%2BBook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-it34xtxVVGI/VOyR131b1xI/AAAAAAAAQLE/m3Bykt7bUQU/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHandy%2BMilitary%2BHistory%2BAnswer%2BBook.jpg" height="200" width="153" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the best series around is Visible Ink Press’s “Handy Answer” books. The latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Military History Answer Book</b> ($21.95, Visible Ink, softcover), by Samuel Willard Crompton, a captivating, concise, and extensive look at the way war has been a continual element of history and has often dramatically changed it. Indeed, one might call peace the brief intervals of time between wars. This book shows how war creates heroes, along with cowards, spies and patriots were made, how conflicts shaped borders, policies and politics, society and culture, always influencing the future. Answering more than 1,400 questions, you will learn how conquering armies to civil wars resulted in guerrilla warfare, terrorism, modern weapons, and so much more that fill the headlines of our times. To understand history, one must know about warfare from the days of the Roman Empire to the present. This book will do just that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">Reading About Science<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Science is in the news all the time, but much of the time is devoted to those groups and organizations that lie about it in order to frighten people from taking advantage of the benefits it offer. The latest debate about vaccinating children to protect them from measles is one example. The battles fought to advance science go back to the earliest days of civilization.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e_vRILJaP3k/VOyR_KCOnMI/AAAAAAAAQLM/Vu1Pk4pWgik/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBrilliant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e_vRILJaP3k/VOyR_KCOnMI/AAAAAAAAQLM/Vu1Pk4pWgik/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBrilliant.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;">In the Light of Science: Our Ancient Quest for Knowledge and the Measure of Modern Physics </span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;">by Demetris Nicolaides ($19.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) examines the epochal shift in thinking that led pre-Socratic philosophers of the sixth and fifth centuries BCE to abandon the prevailing mythologies of the age and, for the first time, analyze the natural world in terms of impersonal, rationally-understood principles. This is a look at the vast sweep of history that led to the birth of science and its advancement by those unafraid to question tradition. Combining history and science, it makes for some very interesting reading. From the same publishing house comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brilliant!</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shuji Nakamura and the Revolution in Lighting Technology</b> ($18.00, Prometheus Books, softcover), now updated. To celebrate the awarding of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics to Nakamura, author Bob Johnstone profiles the gifted Japanese engineer who is largely responsible for the coming revolution in lighting technology. The lighting revolution is likely to replace halogen lamps and have a profound impact on the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Astronaut Ron Garan has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Orbital Perspective: Lessons in Seeing the Big Picture from a Journey of 71 Million Miles </b>($27.95, Berrett-Koehler Publishers) that is enhanced by several pages of color photos. Garan tells of the transformative experience of living on the international Space Station and the lessons he gained that he believes holds the key to solving our problems here on Earth. He provides an excellent and interesting account of what it was like work with 15 different nationalities. At the same time, he addresses many of the problems that afflict people and what must be done to solve them. In his foreword to the book, Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Laureate, recommends we “Use Ron’s idea of the orbital perspective as a way to erase obstacles, boundaries, and resistance to any problem.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You may not know who Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946) was, but among his many accomplishments was being a co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America in addition to writing many children’s books that influenced an entire generation or more regarding life in the outdoors. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Storyteller </b>($24.95, Langdon Street Press) by Leila Moss Knox and Linda L. Knox is not only a wonderful tribute to Seton, but a wonderful way to get to know about him through excerpts of his writings that are richly illustrated. It has a foreword by the late songwriter and singer, Pete Seeger, who like many felt his life enriched by Seton’s books. This is a great way to introduce him to a whole new generation and I guarantee they will love this book.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nCXeef2db0c/VOySP_TpB9I/AAAAAAAAQLY/Oc7YCEQ8pYQ/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BAmerican%2BAmazons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nCXeef2db0c/VOySP_TpB9I/AAAAAAAAQLY/Oc7YCEQ8pYQ/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BAmerican%2BAmazons.jpg" height="200" width="136" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Children’s books are a great way for them to learn U.S. history and I am happy to report that Alex Bugaeff’s new book, part of his “Grandfather” series, is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">American Amazons: Colonial Women Who Changed History </b>($14.95, available from Amazon) in which “Gomps” shares his historical tales with his grandchildren, Hannah and Carter. It’s good to see them get the attention they deserve. One of them, Deborah Sampson, fought on the front lines with the Continental Army for three years and there were others. These days women are part of the Israel Defense Force and trained for combat like the men. We had such women when it counted in our Revolution.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0N0RpwhkfpU/VOySg0QmAjI/AAAAAAAAQLc/ye87yfOsDQw/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWhen%2BI%2BGrow%2BUp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0N0RpwhkfpU/VOySg0QmAjI/AAAAAAAAQLc/ye87yfOsDQw/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWhen%2BI%2BGrow%2BUp.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Wigu Publishing of Sun Valley, Idaho, has a series you can learn about at </span><a href="http://www.whenigrowupbooks.com/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: #0000aa; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.whenigrowupbooks.com</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> such as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When I Grow Up I Want to Be…in the U.S. Army </b>or <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">a Nurse! </b>The series also includes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Teacher, U.S. Navy, Veterinarian and Firefighter</b>. They are available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and other major online retailers, and come in Kindle editions as well. Parents often hear their children express an interest in a particular profession and this series is well written as stories that a young reader, age 5 to 7 or so can read and identify with. They are both well researched and entertaining.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The odd thing about “Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children” when it was published in 2011 is that, although aimed at a younger audience of readers, ages 13 and up, it attracted so many older ones that it stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for more than 80 weeks. In February its sequel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hollow City</b> by Ransom Riggs ($10.99, Quirk Books, softcover) was published and it picks up where the first left off as the reader follows the story of Jacob and his friends as they encounter a menagerie of odd animals, a band of gypsies, and more peculiar children. Jacob and friends are on the run from “wights” who have turned Miss Peregrine into a bird. They are hoping to find a cure in London. The book is illustrated with photos from earlier times, but it is the characters like Emma Bloom who can make fire with her hands, Millard, an invisible boy, and Olive who is lighter than air that are not only peculiar who inhabit a story that includes Alma LeFay Peregrine who is a shape-shifter and manipulator of time, as well as the headmistress of Cairnholm’s loop. It’s delightful. This one is headed for the best seller lists too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3EYE6uOia2A/VOySwmcGljI/AAAAAAAAQLk/zKACyC5WVbs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BVanishing%2BGirls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3EYE6uOia2A/VOySwmcGljI/AAAAAAAAQLk/zKACyC5WVbs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BVanishing%2BGirls.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lauren Oliver has gained an international reputation for her five young adult novels as well as her other books. She is published in thirty languages and no doubt <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vanishing Girls </b>($18.99, HarperCollins) will keep her on the bestseller list for those ages 14 and up with her story of Dara and Nick. The two sisters used to be inseparable, but that changed when Dara’s beautiful face was scarred by a car accident, leaving them estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. Another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished as well and Nick becomes convinced that the two disappearances are linked and feels compelled to find her sister before it’s too late. The readers, too, will feel compelled to see how this novel proceeds and how it ends.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y9FZJwTcsnk/VPDH34WdLYI/AAAAAAAAQPo/9E-Kvo_o8h4/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BFlight%2BTrack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y9FZJwTcsnk/VPDH34WdLYI/AAAAAAAAQPo/9E-Kvo_o8h4/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BFlight%2BTrack.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">March 8 makes the first anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that went down without a clue. I am a fan of Lior Samson, the pen name of the author of two dozen books that include seven novels like“Bashert”, “The Dome”, and “Web Games.” He is now back with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flight Track </b>($16.95/$2.99 Kindle, Gesher Press, an imprint of Ampersand Press, Rowley, MA), a novel that provides a scenario of what might have happened and why to flight MH370. In the novel it is the inaugural flight of Pacificano Transocean’s over-the-pole non-stop service from Singapore to Chicago’s O’Hare. It’s all celebrating and champagne until flight PT20 veers off the radar. This is the kind of thriller that fans of Samson have come to anticipate and enjoy. In this story, an elite team of brilliant young nerds is called upon to help find the missing plane and their high-tech pursuit of what happened turns into a life-or-death race to discover who is behind the disappearance, to understand what’s at stake, and to find a solution against seemingly invincible forces behind it. Like all his novels, it’s not one you will put down until you get to the last page.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qOnuOPuxXik/VOyS6x8LS0I/AAAAAAAAQLs/ndAta29-aaU/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BState%2Bof%2BTreason.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qOnuOPuxXik/VOyS6x8LS0I/AAAAAAAAQLs/ndAta29-aaU/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BState%2Bof%2BTreason.jpg" height="200" width="144" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Another novel straight out of the headlines is David Thomas Roberts’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A State of Treason</b>($31.50, </span><a href="http://www.defiancepress.com/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: #0000aa; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.defiancepress.com</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">) in which a President who hates the Tea Party sets in motion a confrontation with the Governor of Texas when he seizes a member of the Party in an unconstitutional way. The Governor authorizes a Texas Ranger to free him and his family. The confrontation escalates when the Governor puts the question of independence from the federal government on the ballot and the President declares martial law, sending in armed forces to deny Texans the right to decide whether they want to continue as part of a corrupt government, a do-nothing Congress, and an administration plagued by scandals. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bzu1xQ9c02c/VOyTCFL2RsI/AAAAAAAAQL0/eTy1XBIXgAs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BA%2BSister%2Bto%2BHonor.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bzu1xQ9c02c/VOyTCFL2RsI/AAAAAAAAQL0/eTy1XBIXgAs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BA%2BSister%2Bto%2BHonor.png" height="200" width="133" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A number of other softcover novels will provide hours of entertainment to rival anything on the TV and you don’t have to be bothered by commercials. Plucked from the headlines being generated by the Islamic turmoil of the Middle East, Lucy Ferriss, the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Sister to Honor</b> ($16.00, Penguin) journeyed to northern Pakistan in 2012 to learn about their culture of honor. It is a novel about Pakistani people in America. Afia Satar is studious, modest and a devout Muslim. The daughter of a landholding family, she has enrolled in an American college with the dream of returning to her country to serve as a doctor, but when a photo of her holding hands with an American boy surfaces online, she is suddenly no longer safe, even from the family that cherishes her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It is rising sports star Shahid Satar who has been entrusted by her family to watch over Afia and now he has been ordered to cleanse the stain of her shame. This is the classic clash of cultures and quite relevant to the issues and times in which we live.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Eliot Girls </span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;">by Krista Bridge ($22.95, Douglas &amp; McIntyre, softcover) is set in the George Eliot Academy, a private school for girls that prides itself on being on the vanguard of learning. For years Audrey Brindle and her mother, Ruth, have wanted Audrey to get into the school where Ruth has taught for a decade, but when she is finally admitted, she discovers that the daily world of Eliot is a place of sly bullying, ferocious intolerance, and bewildering social standards. Her mother, Ruth, finds her own stability dismantled by the arrival of a new teacher. As both navigate the treacheries of their upended worlds, each finds her sense of morality slipping as unexpected possibilities ignite. Clearly a book that women will enjoy and identify with more than men, it is also clearly worth a read for being by turns comic and psychologically intense. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Thomas &amp; Mercer comes a mystery, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Dead Key</b> by D.M. Pulley ($15.96, softcover), an atmospheric and richly detailed story that weaves together the stories of Beatrice Baker who begins work at the First Bank of Cleveland shortly before its mysterious collapse in 1978 and Iris Latch, a civil engineer hired to survey the abandoned but perfectly preserved bank building two decades later. As she toils amid the bank’s ransacked offices and forgotten safe deposit boxes, Iris is drawn into uncovering the dark secrets of the building’s sordid past; one that includes Beatrice’s mysterious disappearance shortly before the sudden collapse. This is a thoroughly engrossing mystery and a fine debut for its author.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s it for March. Come back in April for more news of the best new fiction and non-fiction. Tell your book loving friends, family and coworkers about Bookviews.com so they too any can learn about books that often do not get noted by the mainstream print media which in recent times is devoting less and less space to reviews. See you next month!</span> </span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-16632643326887710372015-01-25T12:43:00.000-08:002015-02-01T13:49:18.077-08:00Bookviews - February 2015<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba</span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4M94HdMkXvQ/VMVOcl7ZAbI/AAAAAAAAP3E/Pr5MtE1cJ1M/s1600/Cover-%2BThieves%2Bof%2BState.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4M94HdMkXvQ/VMVOcl7ZAbI/AAAAAAAAP3E/Pr5MtE1cJ1M/s1600/Cover-%2BThieves%2Bof%2BState.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">While we read and hear about the latest barbaric assault on humanity perpetrated by Islamic fanatics, the search for answers as to why they are doing this continues. In present times, the upsurge of those pursuing a holy war or jihad is traced to Iran’s Islamic revolution that began in 1979. After that it took off in the form of al Qaeda, but why so many Muslims have turned to violence to impose Islam is widely debated. One answer will surprise you and comes from Sarah Chayes the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security </b>($26.95, W.W. Norton). A foreign policy expert with ten years’ experience in Afghanistan, Chayes examines the ancient and widespread role of corruption that, with regard to many nations in the Middle East and African Maghreb has led to the “Arab Spring” in which the populations of Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt drove their dictators from power. Chayes makes a case that the looting of the public treasure and often the ostentatious lifestyle of the dictators or members of their families finally convinced those in their nations to rise up against them. Americans do not live in a nation where virtually every interface with a government employee or with the police requires a bribe, but that has been the life of millions in oil-rich or developing nations. It also explains why American “nation building” in Iraq and Afghanistan has failed because corruption is still so deeply rooted in their governments. It is a widespread evil and much of what we are seeing worldwide—the latest example is Ukraine—is tied to the growing rejection of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-skYRxS5ghp8/VMVOw1f8ngI/AAAAAAAAP3M/16-dp67x0PQ/s1600/Cover%2B-%2Bimpending-monetary-revolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-skYRxS5ghp8/VMVOw1f8ngI/AAAAAAAAP3M/16-dp67x0PQ/s1600/Cover%2B-%2Bimpending-monetary-revolution.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In 2012 I reviewed Edmund Contoski’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Impending Monetary Revolution, the Dollar and Gold </b>($28.95, American Liberty Publishers, softcover) and thought it was one of the best books explaining how the U.S. got into the 2008 financial crisis, why it could occur again, and why current financial practices are endangering the nation with a huge $18 trillion debt. I am happy to report that its second edition is available and is even more relevant in terms of the past three years. Contoski has not only the knowledge, but the talent to write about the dangerous global and national conditions that exist in a way that anyone can understand. You will, for example, wonder why the U.S. retains Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two mortgage corporations that are not government agencies, but that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis and which Congress bailed out with billions, just as they did with General Motors. At the heart of our problems is the government’s unrestrained spending. “No nation every spent itself into prosperity”, says Contoski, and “Greater borrowing is no solution for either Europe or America. Governments can borrow and create debt, but they cannot create wealth. If they could, inflation would be unnecessary. So would taxation.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>If you are concerned about the current economy and want to know how to protect yourself against the future, this is a book you must read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For anyone who loves to read about travel, you’re in for a treat when you read Jamie Maslin’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Long Hitch Home </b>($24.95, Skyhorse Publishing). I became aware of Maslin when I read his first book, “Iranian Rappers and Persian Porn”, and it provided a very different look at Iranians than we get in the newspapers. They like to have fun too. Maslin likes to travel and if that includes getting into some potentially dangerous situations, that’s okay with him. So, when he decided to travel to London by way of hitchhiking from his home in Australia’s Tasmania, he had to know he was in for an unusual trip. In fact, it required 800 hitchhiking rides, 18,000 miles, four seasons, three continents, and 19 countries. This book takes you along and is a very entertaining trip filled with insights and information you could not acquire in any other fashion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><a href="http://zestbooks.net/">ZestBooks’</a> editors have a talent for publishing offbeat and always interesting books that break through the usual formats and themes. A recent example is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Members Only: Secret Societies, Sects, and Cults—Exposed! </b>by Julie Tibbott ($14.99, softcover). In a lively, entertaining text she explains the appeal of exclusive memberships and examines the histories and practices of fifty groups such as the Knights Templar of old, Yale’s Skull and Bones Society, and the Illuminati which got its start in 1776 and is believed to be devoted to taking over the world. It is, however, unknown whether or not it still exists! It was a secret society of European intellectuals in the Enlightenment era. The odds are strong that, as its members died, so did the secret society. The various groups she writes about will keep you turning the pages as you learn about those who joined them and why, inevitably, they fizzled out or came to a bad end like Jim Jones cult that committed suicide. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n7A-ruhOcR0/VMVO9Ds5ENI/AAAAAAAAP3U/SlfG1BJtnis/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BSold%2BOut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n7A-ruhOcR0/VMVO9Ds5ENI/AAAAAAAAP3U/SlfG1BJtnis/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BSold%2BOut.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My career as a writer began with weekly newspapers, then dailies, and then as a freelancer for many magazines, so I or anyone who has ever worked with a magazine can be forgiven for having an interest in Stuart Englert’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sold Out: How an American Magazine Lost Its Soul </b>($13.94, available from Amazon.com, softcover and Kindle). He tells the story of “American Profile” a newspaper insert similar to “Parade”, but aimed at an audience in “flyover America”, people living in rural communities between the coasts; people whose values differ in that they favor small town life, church-going, and fundamental American traditions, focusing on being of service to their neighbors and communities. That was the original editorial focus of “American Profile” as conceived by L. Daniel Hammond. It was offered to small town dailies and gained up to ten million readers rather quickly, but to get it started he had to turn to Wall Street investors more interested in its quick success as a reason to sell it. To sustain it financially its advertising staff soon took over its editorial content in order to sell ads to big brands such as cigarette manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. From an editorial success story to something far less than its origins is told by Englert who was with the publication as an editor for 14 years. His book is a case history of what happens when good editorial standards are sacrificed for fast dollars. “American Profile”, however, is still being published.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vC6KJyA1mmA/VMVPHIByOcI/AAAAAAAAP3c/k7FeO_wbQac/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BGolf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vC6KJyA1mmA/VMVPHIByOcI/AAAAAAAAP3c/k7FeO_wbQac/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BGolf.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I have never played golf, but I know a good book about the game when I see it. That was my reaction to Kalliope Barlis’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Play Golf Better Faster: The Classic Guide to Optimizing Your Performance and Building Your Best Fast </b>($19.95, softcover, purchase at </span><a href="http://www.playgolfbetterfaster.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.PlayGolfBetterFaster.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> as well as Amazon.com, Kindle, and other outlets.) The author took up golf in her twenties and in a remarkably short time, she became a professional golfer. These days she tours the country as a golf improvement specialist addressing groups of people who share her love of the game. There is a huge mass of information about golf and what impressed me about this book is the way it focused on the fundamentals while providing excellent advice why the game is about much more than the equipment it requires. She reveals both the mental and the physical elements that will lift the golfer to a higher level, from the novice to the experienced player.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rv5L-ap6Wuk/VMVUg-WaeZI/AAAAAAAAP4E/1dXFENYoquo/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BCrucible%2Bof%2BCommand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rv5L-ap6Wuk/VMVUg-WaeZI/AAAAAAAAP4E/1dXFENYoquo/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BCrucible%2Bof%2BCommand.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The fascination with the American Civil War has generated many books and there’s always room for one more, especially if it is as good as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Crucible of Command: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee – The War They Fought, the Peace They Forged</b> by William C. Davis ($32.50, Da Capo Press). It is a hefty volume of 629 pages that looks at both men simultaneously, removing the myths surrounding them to present them as complex men with very different, but strikingly similar, personal and professional lives. Davis is one of the nation’s top Civil War historians, having authored or edited more than fifty books. He is a three-time winner of the Jefferson Davis Award. The reader gets to follow Grant and Lee through their four meetings over their lives from the Mexican-American war when they were on the same side to Lee’s surrender on behalf of the Confederacy. Both men died at the age of 63. Davis concludes that as leaders, decision makers, and soldiers they were virtually indistinguishable. The book’s focus is less on the incidents of their lives than on their moral and ethical worlds, what they felt and believed and why. In this respect the book fills an important role for those who find the Civil War of interest. </span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The era that preceded the Civil War is addressed by Eric Foner in his new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad </b>($26.95, W.W. Norton). James Oakes, an author and winner of the Lincoln Prize, says of this book that it “liberates the history of the underground railroad from the twin plagues of mythology and cynicism. The big picture is here, along with telling details from previously untapped sources.” Between 1830 and 1860, operatives of the underground railroad in New York helped more than 3,000 fugitive slaves reach freedom. Their defiance of the disastrous Fugitive Slave law inflamed the slave states and contributed to their decision to secede. It is hard for us to conceive of what it meant to live in those times, but this book brings them to life. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Most certainly Theodore Roosevelt became an almost mythic figure, but Harry Lembeck tells us of an aspect of his presidency of which most may not have heard. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Taking on Theodore Roosevelt: How One Senator Defied the President on Brownsville and Shook American Politics </b>($27.00, Prometheus Books). In August 1906, black soldiers stationed in Brownsville, Texas, were accused of going on a lawless rampage in which shots were fired, one man was killed, and another wounded. Because the perpetrators could never be positively identified, President Roosevelt took the highly unusual step of discharging without honor all 167 members of the black battalion on duty the night of the shooting. Lembeck tells the story which begins at the end when Sen. Joseph Foraker was honored by the black community in Washington, D.C., for his efforts to reverse Roosevelt’s decision. At that time racism was widespread in America, making Sen. Foraker’s effort to reverse Roosevelt’s decision even more courageous. Sixty-seven years after the event, President Richard Nixon finally undid Roosevelt’s action by honorably discharging the men of the Brownsville Battalion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bk-fVK-O2JU/VMVUv8FaORI/AAAAAAAAP4M/yQwDK_k0Mdo/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BCrystal%2BCity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bk-fVK-O2JU/VMVUv8FaORI/AAAAAAAAP4M/yQwDK_k0Mdo/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BCrystal%2BCity.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The internment of Americans born of Japanese, German and Italian ancestry during World War II was a dark chapter in our history. Just how ugly it was is captured by Jan Jarboe Russell in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Train to Crystal City </b>($30.00, Scribners) which tells the story of an internment camp in Crystal City, Texas where immigrants and their American-born children were sent without ever being charged with a crime. It was the only family internment camp during the war and it was the center of a government prisoner exchange program during which hundreds of prisoners, including their children, were sent back to the nations from which they had emigrated for Americans deemed more important in exchange for imprisoned diplomats, businessmen, soldiers, physicians, and missionaries. This is a tragic story but Russell notes that the Texas Rangers ran the camp with compassion and the inmates created churches, schools, and other amenities. The story of Crystal City is the story of the hysteria that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor and Germany’s subsequent declaration of war on America. Those were bad times made worse by bad decisions that ignored the very reason immigrants had come here, freedom. You’ll read this book and wonder how it happened, but it did happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Further back in history, we visit England in 1649 when members of its parliament and others became so frustrated with King Charles I that they did the unthinkable; they beheaded him. He had been king since 1625, ruling over England, Scotland and Ireland. He was completely devoted to the concept of the divine right of kings; the belief that he was king by appointment from God. He was also arrogant and corrupt, living the high life at the expense of his noble class and the peasants. After seven bloody years of a war against Spain and Europe’s Catholic powers that had caused much suffering, a tribunal of 135 men was hastily gathered in London. Charles refused to acknowledge it and they decided to behead him. His son, Charles II was restored to the throne and, instead of learning anything from the execution, he set on retribution. This set in motion the concept of a constitutional monarchy with limited powers that exists to this day. You can read all about this incendiary moment in history in Charles Spencer’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I </b>($34.95, Bloomsbury Press). It is testimony to why fact is always superior to fiction because it so often defies the imagination. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Bios and Memoirs<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3gEm9E4Tmck/VMVPTPFTWrI/AAAAAAAAP3k/N0s9Y6b-SeY/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHugh%2BO'Brian.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3gEm9E4Tmck/VMVPTPFTWrI/AAAAAAAAP3k/N0s9Y6b-SeY/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHugh%2BO'Brian.png" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Hugh O’Brian was one of those actors I grew up seeing in movie and on television. For many he is best known for starring in the TV series, “Wyatt Earp.” When I read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hugh O’Brian, or What’s Left of Him</b>, his memoir written with his wife, Virginia, ($14.00, Book Publishers Network, softcover, available from Amazon.com) I discovered a remarkable man. Published on the eve of his 89<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> birthday, it has forewords by Hugh Hefner and Debbie Reynolds. She tells a delightful story of how he taught her to kiss. She was raised in a very strict family and had never even held hands with a boy. They went on to become good friends. O’Brian tells stories of his life in the Marines, of changing his name from Krampe to O’Brian because nobody seemed to know how to pronounce or spell it. He led what appears to have been a life filled with being in the right place at the right time. It didn’t hurt that he was incredibly good looking. Along the way he met people from Marilyn Monroe to Albert Schweitzer; the latter inspired him to create the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership to encourage community service. His work on this project would put him in contact with Presidents Nixon, Clinton and Bush over the years. If you think of him solely as an actor, his memoir reveals how much more he was and did in his life. It is well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Many years ago I did public relations for Actors Equity and had the pleasure of meeting many of the leading actors and actresses of the time. Among them was Theodore Bikel who was president of the union at the time. He has had such a remarkable life that it is good news that a new edition of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Theo: An Autobiography </b>($21.48, softcover, available at Amazon.com) has been published. It’s a celebration of Bikel's ninth decade, in which he looks back at his life as an activist for civil rights and progressive causes worldwide, and a singer whose voice has won him great applause. A compelling life story, it practically requires a passport to read, Bikel was born in Austria, raised in Palestine, educated in England, and has had a stellar career in the United States and around the world. His personal history ran parallel to momentous events of the twentieth century. In an eloquent, fiercely committed voice, he writes of the Third Reich, the birth of the state of Israel, the McCarthy witch-hunts of the 1950s, the tumultuous 1960s in America, and events in the Middle East. He is perhaps best known for playing the role pf Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” on Broadway, but he also created the role of Captain von Trapp in “The Sound of Music”. He has had more than 150 screen roles and many others on television and has recorded 37 albums over the years. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">To Your Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hylDmH5lOZ0/VMVU3xITPRI/AAAAAAAAP4U/IB2jjbpQHCc/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHandy%2BNutrition%2BAnswer%2BBook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hylDmH5lOZ0/VMVU3xITPRI/AAAAAAAAP4U/IB2jjbpQHCc/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHandy%2BNutrition%2BAnswer%2BBook.jpg" height="200" width="153" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Due out officially in March, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Nutrition Answer Book</b> by Patricia Barnes-Svarney and Thomas E. Svarney ($21.95, Visible Ink Press, softcover) will answer your questions about what foods are good sources of vitamins, minerals, and proteins, as well as fats—some are good and some are not. This book is filled with information that brings the complexity of food and healthy nutrition together as it answers nearly 900 common questions such as how are calories measured and why is high fructose corn syrup so controversial? What’s the best way to cook vegetables to keep their nutrients from being destroyed? And what does the word “natural” really mean on the label? The authors—Patricia is a science writer and Thomas is a scientist—are very skilled and have previously written “The Handy Biology Answer Book” and others. Indeed, I would recommend you visit </span><a href="http://www.handyanswers.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.handyanswers.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> to check out the many excellent books filled with answers about history, science, and most recently, about Islam. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There are books being written about gluten, a substance that causes gastrointestinal problems because some people have an intolerance for it. It is the basis for celiac disease. Found in wheat, it varies in flours such as rye and barley. By far the largest book I have seen to date is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Gluten Free Revolution </b>by Jax Peters Lowell ($28.00, Henry Holt and Company, softcover) that is 632 pages in length. The book’s subtitle says it is about “Absolutely everything you need to know about losing the wheat, reclaiming your health, and eating happily ever after.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The author was diagnosed as suffering from celiac for more than twenty years before it was traced to eating wheat-based foods. Thereafter she devoted herself to bringing national attention to why a gluten-free diet would spare others allergic to gluten. For anyone diagnosed as gluten-intolerant, this encyclopedic book has every answer to every question you might have. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yc8FTkZ6sUU/VMVWTrjuEvI/AAAAAAAAP4o/pLIwYiOBMEE/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWine%2BMaker's%2BHand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yc8FTkZ6sUU/VMVWTrjuEvI/AAAAAAAAP4o/pLIwYiOBMEE/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWine%2BMaker's%2BHand.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Mother was an internationally honored authority on wine and I grew up enjoying it with the gourmet dinners she prepared. Wine has many health benefits. I came to know people who produced wine and they are a special group devoted to one of the oldest skills, dating back to biblical times and earlier. Natalie Berkowitz is a wine, food and lifestyle writer who has been published in leading publications such as The New York Times, Vogue, and of course the Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator. She has even taught a wine appreciation course to seniors at Barnard and Columbia University for more than a decade. She has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Winemaker’s Hand: Conversations on Talent, Technique, and Terroir </b>($27.95, Columbia University Press) and I guarantee you, if you love wine, you will love this book. Indeed, even a beginner just learning about the joys and benefits of wine will enjoy it. She has interviewed more than forty of the top viticulture maestros from all over the world with the result that the readers get to learn about the wine-making process which is both an art and a science, from harvest to bottling. To fully enjoy wine there is much more than just drinking it. It has a history, it has a location, it has various distinctions in terms of the grapes from which it is made to the special qualities it will possess. “Terroir” by the way is a French word for “land” and how geography and climate interact with plant genetics. It refers to the way wines are influenced by where they are grown, the soil in which they are planted. After you read this engrossing and entertaining book, your next stop will be to purchase a bottle or two of wine. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For the younger crowd, age 4 and up, there’s an inspiring story, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sadie’s Big Steal</b> by Marla McKenna, ($10.99, Tate Publishing, softcover) a sequel to “Mom’s Big Catch” as told by Sadie, the family dog who loves to catch balls and tells of her plan to steal a major league baseball that Mom had caught at a game. She wants to share playing with it with her other dog friends. Along the way, though, she realizes that it would be wrong to do that and she realizes, too, that she wants to help a new dog in the neighborhood find a home with the help of the local shelter. It’s the kind of story that teaches some valuable lessons about respecting and helping others. I would recommend it to any parent that wants to share those lessons.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There's a lot of fun to be had reading <strong>The Teacher Who Would Not Retire Loses Her Ballet Slippers </strong>by Sheila and Letty Sustrin, wonderfuly illustrated by Thomas H. Bone III ($17.95, Blue Marlin Publications). Written by identical twins and retired teachers, this is a fifth in the series about "The Teacher Who Would Not Retire" aimed at readers aged 5 and up. When she cleaned a number of slippers and put them out to dry, they disappeared. The rest is a hilarious account of the effort to find them and all the people who joined in to help. The culprit is a cat, but when they disappear again you will be delighted by the way it ends.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cuR2upuF5zo/VMVPcwULxzI/AAAAAAAAP3s/AGxDRREkVSA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BPsi%2BAnother%2BDay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cuR2upuF5zo/VMVPcwULxzI/AAAAAAAAP3s/AGxDRREkVSA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BPsi%2BAnother%2BDay.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For the pre-teen and teenager there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Psi Another Day </b>by D. R. Rosensteel ($9.99, Entangled Publishing, softcover) that features Rinnie Noelie, a girl with a keen fashion sense, a secret identify, and fierce fighting skills. By night she is a Psi Fighter battling the Walpurgis Knights, lethal villains who brutalize her city. By day she’s a high school student and that can be just as frightening because the school is one in which bullying is a part of everyday activities. She wants to use her fighting skills to protect her outcast friends from the school bullies known as the Red Team, but that might reveal the secret of her true identity and place her in mortal danger from the Knights. I am pleased to report that the book lacks the foul language one finds in too many young adult books these days. It’s anti-drug and anti-bullying message would resonate with any young reader. This is an exceptionally well-written book and the good news is that it is the first in a three-book series.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HfMrEbGn8VE/VMpmrzrFxkI/AAAAAAAAP6c/HxIXHI-h-vc/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BHeroes%2BTrail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HfMrEbGn8VE/VMpmrzrFxkI/AAAAAAAAP6c/HxIXHI-h-vc/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BHeroes%2BTrail.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A book written to inspire younger readers is <strong>The Hero's Trail</strong> by T.A. Barron ($8.99, Puffin Books, softcover). Aimed at those age 8 and up, it is filled with profiles of young heroes who displayed courage, hope, generosity, compassion and perseverance. The book is a reflection of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, an award that honors them and the author's mother. Over the years, close to $550,000 has been awarded to nearly 350 children and the book features 71 of them. If Barron's name strike a chord, it is because he is the author of the "Merlin Series" which has sold millions of copies worldwide.&nbsp;This would make a great gift for any young person.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MIHzACK86VY/VMVPjueY-HI/AAAAAAAAP30/U9jHbkWMY3g/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BNever%2BOpen%2BDesert%2BDiner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MIHzACK86VY/VMVPjueY-HI/AAAAAAAAP30/U9jHbkWMY3g/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BNever%2BOpen%2BDesert%2BDiner.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A number of novels offer a variety of reading experiences with their themes and one that is sure to grab your attention is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Never-Open Desert Diner </b>by James Anderson ($25.00, Caravel Books) set in the merciless and magnificent high desert of Southwestern Utah. This is Anderson’s debut novel, but he has had short fiction published that earned praise. In this novel, Ben Jones is on the verge of losing his small trucking company. A single, 38 year old truck driver, his route takes him back and forth across one of the most desolate regions, providing daily deliveries that bring him into contact with an eccentric cast of character that include an itinerant preacher who drags a life-sized cross along the blazing roadside, the Lacey brothers who live in boxcars mounted on cinderblocks, and Ginny, a pregnant and homeless punk teenager whose survival skills make her an unlikely heroine. Ben is drawn into a love affair with Claire, who plays a cello in the model home of an abandoned housing development and her appearance reignites a decades-old tragedy at a roadside café referred to by the locals as the “never-open desert diner.” The owner is an embittered and solitary old man who refuses to yield to change after his wife’s death. The diner was the scene of a horrific crime that was committed forty years earlier and now threatens to destroy the lives of those left in its wake. Sound interesting? It is!<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Shady Cross</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> by James Hankins ($14.95 and $9.95 ebook, Thomas &amp; Mercer, softcover) introduces us to a small-time thief named Stokes who is not a good guy which is why he is not particularly upset when he accidently runs a car off the road, killing the driver. About to flee the scene, he spots a backpack near the car that has a pile of cash in it, enough to pay off his debts and let him leave town and start a new life. The bag, though, also contains a ringing cell phone and when he answers it turns out to be a little girl in distress. “Daddy? Are you coming to get me?” asks the girl. Stokes must decide whether to keep the money or use it to save the child’s life. Hankins has three bestselling thrillers to his credit and this one will keep you turning the pages to see what Stokes will do. In Andy Siegel’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cookie’s Case: A Tug Wyler Mystery </b>($14.99, Mysterious Press, softcover) the author who in real life is a personal injury and medical malpractice attorney in New York, transmutes his experience into the second novel based on the character of Tug Wyler who is also an attorney. His first novel, “Suzy’s Case” was selected as a Poisoned Pen Bookstore Best Debut Novel and a Suspense Magazine Best Book of 2012. In this latest novel you will understand why Tug decides that Cookie is the victim of a spine surgeon and wants to secure a medical remedy and a fair shake for her. Cookie is the most popular performer at Jingles Dance Bonanza and she has a devoted audience even though she must wear a neck brace. Will justice triumph? You will have to read this novel to find out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ko4PjPKznmc/VMVVBoj5TEI/AAAAAAAAP4c/bVDNgmDISTM/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BSecrets%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bporch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ko4PjPKznmc/VMVVBoj5TEI/AAAAAAAAP4c/bVDNgmDISTM/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BSecrets%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bporch.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">It’s a good thing to have been born and raised in Nebraska if you are going to write <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Secrets of the Porch </b>($17.99, Tate Publishing, softcover) which is set there. Sue Ann Sellon has written an inspirational, coming of age romance featuring 16 year old Sophie Mae Randolph who has been adrift since her mother died of cancer. To get away from abusive foster parents she hits the streets and together with a boy named Gabe gets arrested for robbing a gas station. The judge lets her avoid juvenile detention when she agrees to spend a year in Nebraska on her grandmother’s farm. She has never met grandma Lila but their relationship develops and she realizes that they both have their secrets. She finds a boyfriend named Blake and everything is fine until Gabe shows up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Kirkus reviews called this one “a sweet, smart story about growing up and learning to trust.” I couldn’t have said it better. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Perhaps the most unusual novel I have seen in a long time is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Five Days: Which Days Would You Choose? </b>by Matt Micros ($9.18, Micropulous Press, available at Amazon.com.) When 40-year-old Mike Postman rescues a drowning boy he allows himself to drown. Since he died a hero the angel Gabriel gives him a gift of choosing five days that he can relive. The book raises questions about life and death, suicide and the afterlife while raising questions about which five days you might relive if given the opportunity. Definitely offbeat, but it will appeal to some.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for February. Tell your family, friends and coworkers who love to read about Bookviews.com and come back in March for more news about interesting non-fiction and fiction books you may not read about anywhere else.</span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-77365770515054423912014-12-31T08:19:00.001-08:002014-12-31T09:30:17.434-08:00Bookviews - January 2015<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 24pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Happy New Year!<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Rand Corporation is a think tank created after World War II that describes itself as a “research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, health and more prosperous.” It was formed to connect military planning with research and development decisions. A recent study, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blinders, Blunders, and Wars: What America and China Can Learn </b>($49.95, softcover, </span><a href="http://www.rand.org/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.rand.org</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">) was authored by David C. Gompert, Hans Binnendijk, and Bonny Lin. Anyone interested in wars, past, present, and future will find this examination of “eight strategic blunders” and the lessons to be drawn from them will find this book of interest. It looks at Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, repeated by German military leaders in 1941, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, and other such decisions including the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. It also looks at four cases of warfare that were not blunders. A combination of history and strategic analysis makes this a very interesting book. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FYzT-dfwaeM/VJy3AXjIEYI/AAAAAAAAPmg/uLyzMfg8tsw/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWhen%2BGlobalization%2BFails.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FYzT-dfwaeM/VJy3AXjIEYI/AAAAAAAAPmg/uLyzMfg8tsw/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWhen%2BGlobalization%2BFails.png" height="200" width="133" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">When Globalization Fails: The Rise and Fall of Pax Americana </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by James MacDonald ($27.00. Farrar, Straus and Giroux), a historian and former investment banker, takes a look at the way the U.S. has gone most recently from the number one economy to number two for the first time since well before World War ii. MacDonald concludes that the U.S. is withdrawing from its long role as a protector of the sea lanes and as the global policeman that intervenes to avoid problems from rogue nations. Suffice to say he sees a nation in decline, but he does so as the U.S. has become a major energy power thanks to technology that has unlocked vast quantities of natural gas and oil. For six years the Obama administration has withdrawn from wars in hotspots like Iraq, but is now reversing that policy because the decision led to a worsening situation. As the U.S. comes out of the 2008 financial crisis, its dollar will strengthen and the likelihood is that it will regain its global role, but you will not read that in this otherwise interesting book’s cloudy crystal ball.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you’re thinking of taking a vacation or business trip this year, pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Savvy Traveler: 175 Ways to Save </b>by Robert B. Diener ($8.99, softcover, $2.99 Kindle, available from Amazon.com.) The author is the founder of Getaroom.com, a hotel booking site, and a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News, and CNBC, as well as a source for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The New York Times. His book is very reader-friendly as he tells you how to find the very best hotel room rates, domestically, and make good travel choices. Its international travel section provides tips on how to handle currency issues, be safe, and find the best deals overseas. All manner of ways to save money from renting cars to selecting a cruise, as well of course finding the best flights for any destination while avoiding fees and other costs. This is the kind of information any traveler would want to know and should acquire before leaving home.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NCA-bzqSydQ/VJy3NXGBffI/AAAAAAAAPmo/jJwkX9qBXGs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BDisaster%2BHandbook.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NCA-bzqSydQ/VJy3NXGBffI/AAAAAAAAPmo/jJwkX9qBXGs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BDisaster%2BHandbook.png" height="200" width="162" /></a>Another book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Disaster Handbook</b> is by Robert Brown Butler ($15.95, softcover, available from Amazon.com) an architect who has penned five other books that were published by McGraw-Hill. This book addresses what to do to prepare your home or workplace for a disaster and do so in advance when it counts. It provides advice on how to be safe when a disaster like a hurricane occurs and how to best repair afterwards. It goes way beyond that, however, describing how to store and use all the foods, tools, and other “calamity commodities” you will need should misfortune come knocking on your door and how to survive with no electricity and pure water. It is packed with practical information and it does so while avoiding scaring the heck out of the reader by providing a lighthearted text that is “user friendly” from beginning to end. This is a “safe, not sorry” book worth reading before a disaster occurs.</span><br />&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PjB_qswPBKc/VJy3hXU7VnI/AAAAAAAAPmw/uFhwktYoSSA/s1600/Cover%2B-Rewards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PjB_qswPBKc/VJy3hXU7VnI/AAAAAAAAPmw/uFhwktYoSSA/s1600/Cover%2B-Rewards.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There was a time when every parent knew that providing incentives and rewards was an excellent way to guide a child. Teachers, too, used them in the form of gold stars and in some schools they have even eliminated grades. Herbert J. Walberg and Joseph L. Bast&nbsp;have joined together to write <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rewards: How to Use Rewards to Help Children Learn—and Why Teachers Don’t Use Them Well </b>($14.95, The <a href="http://www.heartland.org/">Heartland Institute</a>, softcover). Their book offers research that proves rewards help children learn and the failure to provide them&nbsp;can actually hurt their development. If you don’t know whether you’re doing well or not, why would you try to do better? The elimination of rewards is the result of the progressive ideology that puts the emphasis on self-esteem at the same it eliminates any reason for students to feel confident in a personal achievement that is ignored. Indeed, as the book reveals, students in teachers colleges are no longer being taught to use the rewards that served the many generations of students that preceded the present ones. It’s no secret there is a crisis in our public education systems these days and this book addresses one important reason for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There’s fun to be had in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">PsyQ</b> by Ben Ambridge ($16.00, Penguin Books, softcover) that provides a way to “test yourself with more than 80 quizzes, puzzles, and experiments” designed to reflect everyday life. As you work your way through them, you will better understand yourself as the author, a psychologist, explains how psychology identifies and determines the forces that guide one’s personality, choices, et cetera. Beginning with the famed Rorschach test and moving through scores of other methods psychologists employ, you will become your own psychologist and learn a great deal about this branch of science. For pure fun, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Uncle John’s Canoramic Bathroom Reader® </b>($19.95, Bathroom Reader’s Press, Ashland, OR, softcover) whose 27<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> edition tips in at a whopping 544 pages that is a collection of the world’s weirdest and most fascinating facts and stories. It has sold more than 15 million copies since its debut in 1988. Whatever your interests, you will find plenty between its covers to interest you and plenty more as you flip through its pages. This is the ultimate trivia book and one that is also wonderfully education and entertaining at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I have never had any contact with police that was much more than asking for directions, but what happens when it involves something more serious? What should someone say if a police officer stops to ask a few questions? Why does it take so long for most cases to go to trial? How can one help a relative who has been accused of a crime? If these questions interest you, then pick up a copy of Dan Conaway’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Arrested: Battling America’s Criminal Justice System </b>($19.95, Bascom Hill Publishing Group, softcover.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>As the author makes clear, too many Americans have no idea how dangerous, confusing and frustrating the criminal justice system really is. An attorney for 19 years, he was named one of the Top Ten Attorneys in 2013 by the National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys. This one of those books that anyone who might have to deal with the system should read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">December was a month filled with news of Islamist attacks from Australia to Pakistan, all quite senseless. For those who want to learn more about Islam, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Islam Answer Book </b>by John Renard. Ph.D., ($21.95, Visible Ink Press, softcover) a professor of theology and scholar of Islam with more than forty years of research and teaching experience. His book takes a scholar’s approach, not offering moral judgments, but it does offer a vast cross-culture understand of Islam in terms of its history, beliefs, symbols, rituals, art and literature, customs, traditions, and ethnic diversity. It is the world second largest religion and this user-friendly guide will answer most questions that anyone might have. Visible Ink Press has a number of these guides and I have been happy to recommend those devoted to history and to science in the past. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Show Biz</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lT32osde1sE/VJy31m12MBI/AAAAAAAAPm4/xsXptCxYtcY/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHollywood%2BWar%2BStories.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lT32osde1sE/VJy31m12MBI/AAAAAAAAPm4/xsXptCxYtcY/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHollywood%2BWar%2BStories.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For anyone dreaming of going to Hollywood and making a career in films or television, it would be a good idea to read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hollywood War Stories: How to Survive in the Trenches—A Rule Book </b>by Rick Friedberg with contributions by Dick Chudlow ($14.95, softcover, available at Amazon.com). This is truly an insider’s look at the industry for anyone thinking about working in it creating and producing music, writing comedy, acting, and other elements of “show biz” Hollywood-style. Friedberg is an award-winning writer/director of movies such as “Spy Hard”, television, “CSI-Miami, the Real Housewives of Orange County”, documentaries, music videos, and television commercials you have likely seen during the Super Bowl or World Series. It is filled with “war stories” and lots of very excellent advice on how to navigate the industry, particularly how it functions behind-the-scenes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>You will learn the do’s and don’ts of dealing with the frustrations and politics that must be addressed in order to have a lasting career. It is a very entertaining as well as educational book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Coming in February, Black History Month is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Black Broadway: African Americans on the Great White Way </b>by six-time Tony Award winning producer and author, Steward F. Lane. He offers an insider’s look at Broadway in a book filled with more than 300 photos ($39.95, Square One Publishers). For anyone who loves Broadway, this book belongs in their library as Lane puts the spotlight on landmark shows such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Raisin in the Sun</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Porgy and Bess, Dreamgirls, The Wiz</i> and many more who gave us an opportunity to enjoy the talents of Ethel Waters, Pearl Bailey, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Pointier, Sammy Davis Jr, who lighted the stage in plays and musicals by August Wilson, Larraine Hansberry, and other greats of the theatre. All your favorite black performers are to be found in this book about the struggles and triumphs on stage of names of those whose talent has made them legends. The book celebrates the playwrights, songwriters, directors, choreographers and designers who changed the American theatre and around the world. This is great history from minstrel shows to vaudeville, from the jazz age to the golden age of the American musical. This is not just black history, but American history.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting Down to Business Books<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WVX_RmWZPCc/VJy38nG66kI/AAAAAAAAPnA/vmvpCp1ozIU/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BTough%2BMan%2C%2BTender%2BChicken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WVX_RmWZPCc/VJy38nG66kI/AAAAAAAAPnA/vmvpCp1ozIU/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BTough%2BMan%2C%2BTender%2BChicken.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of the most entertaining business books is Mitzi Perdue’s book about her husband, Frank Perdue, the man behind the chicken empire. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tough Man, Tender Chicken: Business &amp; Life Lessons from Frank Perdue </b>($20.00, Significance Press.com) tells how a father and son business, thanks to Frank Perdue’s ethics and ambition, grew into a business employing 19,000 men and women, selling its products in a hundred different countries. For the business school student or future entrepreneur, this book will prove invaluable because it spells out what took young Frank in the 1950s selling chickens in the way the industry had done to the development of a whole new way of reaching out to the consumer. The book offers lessons from the way Perdue conducted his life and his business that are invaluable for success. They start with being honest always, treating everyone with respect and courtesy, and remembering to laugh, have fun, but knowing that hard work can be satisfying and fulfilling. I recommend this book for its timeless lessons and its story of a remarkable man.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">More than three million small businesses have decided to go without employer-provided insurance because of the cost. The co-author, Rick Lindquest, of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance: Why It’s Good for You, Your Family, and Your company</b>, ($24.00, Wiley) written with Paul Zane Pilzer, says “It no longer makes financial, legal, or social sense for any U.S. employer to continue providing health insurance to its employees.” Since 2000, the percentage of Americans covered by employer-provided health insurance has declined annually. The authors argue that the Affordable Care Act has made it easier and cheaper for most individuals to buy their own insurance and therein lies the flaw to this book. What many have discovered is that the ACA premiums are higher than expected as are its deductibles. It even penalizes companies who fail to sign up if they have a higher than specified number, causing many already to have put employees on a part-time basis and to not employ more. The authors note that some businesses will replace their group policy with a defined contribution plan that offers a stipend to employees to buy health insurance. This book will help the reader understand the problems that the ACA has created, but you would be advised to read “around” it and to understand ObamaCare is at risk of being revised by Congress or even repealed at some point. Nobody seems to like it much.<br /><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-acFEEe5sOqE/VJy4EL9PzjI/AAAAAAAAPnI/be7KsIxlhhI/s1600/cover%2B-%2BMedical%2BMeltdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-acFEEe5sOqE/VJy4EL9PzjI/AAAAAAAAPnI/be7KsIxlhhI/s1600/cover%2B-%2BMedical%2BMeltdown.jpg" height="200" width="144" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In a similar fashion <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Surviving the Medical Meltdown: Your Guide to Living Through the Disaster of Obamacare </b>by Dr. Lee Hieb, MD ($17.95, WMD Books, softcover) is testimony to the fact that government health care anywhere in the world has never been as good as they provided by the free market. This book is a guide to prepare you and your family to prevent and deal with a multitude of medical issues, from finding doctors during a shortage to tips for dealing with everything from rashes to fevers to fractures and chest pain at home. Dr. Heib is a past president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. His book explores what ObamaCare will and won’t cover, which medications you should stockpile, and tips to maintain your health so you won’t need a doctor. If you or your family members are at risk for hereditary illnesses, this is must reading, but it is also must reading in order to prepare for the problems the Affordable Patient Care Act has created.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Due out in February, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Job Pirate </b>by Brandon Christopher ($16.95, Bleeding Heart Publications, softcover) is a funny, irreverent, first-person account of the author’s journey through the American job market that some are calling a workplace “survival guide” for Gen-X and Millennials. Christopher writes of some two dozen “crappy” jobs out of the eighty-two he has worked over the last twenty years. Some are hilarious and some are absurd. He writes with wit and intelligence as he offers a look at the lighter and darker sides of humanity in the workplace. It is a compassionate look at the lives of the many people we encounter anonymously every day. As Christopher says, “Knowing the score is half the battle. Once you realize that this is no longer your Day’s America, it becomes easier to survive it. Much about the employment scene has changed and this book is an excellent introduction to the new realities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Leading Women: 20 Influential Women Share Their Secrets to Leadership, Business, and Life</b> ($16.99, Adams Media, softcover) Nancy D. O’Reilly, a clinical psychologist brings her knowledge and experience interviewing successful women for the past seven years to the pages of a book that encourages women to “claim power and respect, conquer your internal barriers, and change the world by helping other women do the same.” This book is a new addition to a genre of similar books intended to help women who enter the male-dominated world of business and to break free of limits that can impose. Studies have shown that companies in which women have risen to be CEOs and on the boards actually do better than those who do not. This book synthesizes the experiences and the advice of women who have achieve success and will no doubt help any woman, especially the younger ones entering the workplace, to find their own success. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Once you have found success and worked hard, the next hurdle to master is retirement. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What To Do to Retire Successfully: Navigating Psychological, Financial and Lifestyle Hurdles&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) by Martin B. Goldstein is due out in February. Seventy-seven million baby boomers are slated to retire over the next twenty years, about 10,000 daily, and the author, a physician whose clinical practices specialized in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders, is happily retired and wants you to be as well. Many planning on retiring have been hard hit by the recent economic recession and a very slowly improving economy. The plans they made have been disrupted. Everyone worries that they may not have enough funds to maintain their lifestyle. If that description fits you or someone in your family, this book will likely prove very helpful for them, at any point in their life, to make the right decisions about the rest of it. The budget bill that Congress passed in mid-December has changed the status of pensions, allowing the payout to be altered. If you have such a pension you should look into this because many pensioners are likely to find they will receive less in the years ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Your Mental Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ziCSmqtNG48/VJy4NJo9PNI/AAAAAAAAPnQ/UpNGf0j2_84/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHow%2Bto%2BSurvive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ziCSmqtNG48/VJy4NJo9PNI/AAAAAAAAPnQ/UpNGf0j2_84/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHow%2Bto%2BSurvive.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Life is filled with problems and how we deal with them determines how we can achieve peace of mind. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Survive: The Extraordinary Resilience of Ordinary People </b>($14.95, Think Piece Publishing, softcover) by Andy Steiner offers a number of inspiring recovery stories as well as resources to help people get through difficult times. There’s a lot of practical wisdom in this book by a writer with some impressive credits to her name, included <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Self, Glamour</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fitness</i>, to name just a few publications in which her work has appear. You will learn how the people in the book overcame a massive heart attack, bankruptcy, the death of a spouse, the suicide of a family member, and other challenges. For anyone passing through a comparable situation, this will be a welcome book to read. In a similar way, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Overcoming Shock: Healing the Traumatized Mind and Heart </b>by Diane Zimberoff and David Hartman ($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) tells us that a serious trauma is experienced by 7.7 million adults nationwide and millions more worldwide annually. It can be a threatening illness, the sudden death of a loved one, or a terrorist act like the Boston Marathon bombing. It causes people to mentally and physically shut down. This book provides proven strategies, techniques and tools for successful treatment and provides real-life stories of people who successfully overcame the debilitating effects and post-traumatic ramifications of shock and trauma. Ms. Zimeroff is a licensed marriage and family therapist and Hartman is a clinical social worker who specializes in trauma resolution. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">All of us encounter anxiety in some fashion in our lives and Dr. Margaret Wehrenberg has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Ten Best Anxiety Busters: Simple Strategies to Take Control of Your Worry</b> ($13.95, W.W. Norton, softcover) that will help the reader address and overcome any one of a wide range of often common fears. From fear of flying to not like being in a confined space like an elevator, whether the anxiety is minor or a more serious panic disorder, the good news is that one can address and overcome it. The author, a doctor of psychology, has provided ten simple techniques that include breathing exercises and relaxation practices, as well as how to effectively talk to yourself, among other ways to rid yourself of anxieties, large and small, that interfere with enjoying your life. And then there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Guilt, Shame and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions </b>by Dr. Peter R. Breggin ($19.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) who has devoted decades to leading successful efforts to reform the mental health field and promote empathic therapies. His work has provided the foundation for modern criticism of psychiatric drugs and diagnoses. His latest book offers the first unified theory of guilt, shame, and anxiety, showing how these emotions eventually become self-defeating and demoralizing. He guides the reader through the “Three Steps to Emotional Freedom” and for anyone whose life is being diminished by negative emotions, this book will surely open doors to a far better one.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I would particularly recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Change Your Mind, Change Your Health: 7 Ways to Harness the Power of Your Brain to Achieve True Well-Being </b>by Anne Marie Ludovici, ($15.99, Career Press, softcover) a noted behavioral health consultant. Americans are overwhelmed daily by all kinds of advice on how to avoid heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer, all leading causes of preventable death, but as often as not, they don’t make the changes necessary to ensure good health. The author notes that nearly 80 million Americans are deemed obese or overweight and smokers often take up to seven or more tries to actually stop. Her new book offers proven, evidence-based behavioral tools for “achieving a self-assured and sustainable sense of health and well-being in the face of all obstacles or challenges.” If you are experiencing a struggle to take up good habits and break bad ones, this book will prove very helpful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you or someone you know is the parent of a child with autism, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Living Autism Day By Day: Daily reflections and Strategies to Give You Hope and Courage </b>($23.00. Freedom Abound, softcover) by Pamela Bryson-Weaver will provide some valuable insight on how to cope and what to do. The author has three children with special needs. John, her youngest, has autism and Joshua, the oldest, has Tourette’s and ADHD. That set her on a journey from being “just a mom” to becoming an expert on these conditions. Autism, also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a multiplex of development disabilities. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated one in fifty children in the U.S. has autism. Her book tells what information and help is available for the services and professionals who provide it, what to believe and dismiss regarding what one will hear about autism, and what types of feelings, emotions, and issue you will deal with on a personal level as a parent or caregiver. The book has received a great deal of praise from professionals and parenting experts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For the beautiful women in the world, there’s a book especially for them. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Beautiful Woman Syndrome and the Invisible Man </b>by Jake Kelly ($13.35/$14.95, softcover and Kindle, available from Amazon.com) explores his hypothesis that they have more frequent encounters with me because, while they wanted comfort, nurturing and caring, the men wanted sex. “They universally complained of frequent, successive encounters ending with sex and then rejection. They felt it was their fault; that they weren’t loveable; that they always fell for the wrong guy when what they wanted was a good guy. For those women experiencing this syndrome, Kelly has written a book on how to spot a “hit man”, the type who’s only interested in adding one more sexual conquest, how develop the ability to spot this type and avoid the unhappiness that comes with them. The “invisible man” is basically a good guy and there are plenty of them. I have known a few beautiful women in my life and can confirm that this book offers some excellent advice to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ylqMFmyrDqw/VJy4byVH1KI/AAAAAAAAPnY/h4SLhXce8Es/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBirdology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ylqMFmyrDqw/VJy4byVH1KI/AAAAAAAAPnY/h4SLhXce8Es/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBirdology.jpg" height="247" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Only received one book for the kids, but it is well worth recommending. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Birdology: 30 Activities and Observations for Exploring the World of Birds</b> by Monica Russo with photos by Kevin Byron ($15.95, Chicago Review Press, softcover). Aimed at ages 7 and up this older reader found it fascinating. I have no doubt that a grade-schooler would as well thanks to its interesting text, brief and fact-filled on each page, and for its many wonderful full color photos of all manner of species. The activities it suggests are easy enough for any young reader to undertake, but the focus here is on observing the great diversity and beauty that exists among many bird species. It treats the reader with respect and in addition to information about migration, nesting, food, territories, conservation, and other bird facts, it provides “Bird Words”, a useful glossary as well as common and scientific names, plus resources on the Internet that will provide more information for the curious. I would not be surprised that this book produces some ornithologists in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KspoALvFf7E/VJy4krHQ1zI/AAAAAAAAPng/9vdVdq0ZCkc/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BAfter%2Bthe%2BFall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KspoALvFf7E/VJy4krHQ1zI/AAAAAAAAPng/9vdVdq0ZCkc/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BAfter%2Bthe%2BFall.jpg" height="200" width="146" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A taunt, fast-moving thriller with a historical context is found in Patricia Gussin’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">After the Fall </b>($26.95, Oceanview Publishing). Laura Nelson’s career as a surgeon has ended due to a tragic accident, but has led to her accepting a position as vice president of research for a large pharmaceutical company. As she works to finalize approval of the company’s groundbreaking new drug, Jake Harter, a malicious Food and Drug Administration employee is working to stop the approval because he is obsessed with Adawia Abdul, the beautiful Iraqi scientist who discovered the drug. He does not want her to have any reason to return home to replace her dying father in Saddam Hussein’s bioweapons program. A number of forces are a work as Hussein’s henchmen apply pressure to assure her return and, if Laura Nelson gets in his way, he will eliminate her as he has her predecessor, and his own wife. The novel has an added sense of reality due to the fact that the author has practiced medical research and been an executive with a leading healthcare company. Her first novel, “Shadow of Death”, was nominated as the best first novel by International Thriller Writers. This sixth novel is bound to attract awards and is the fourth and final novel in her Laura Nelson series. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Widow Tree </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Nicole Lundrigan ($22.95, Douglas &amp; McIntrye, softcover) is set in the 1950’s post-war Yugoslavia and marks a departure from her previous four novels. When three childhood friends find a long-lost stash of Roman coins it precipitates the unraveling of their relationships as they argue over what to do with their new found wealth. Nevena insists it should be turned over to authorities as the coins belong to the country. Janos wants to keep them and Dorjan walks the line between the two. The decision to conceal their discovery turns disastrous when Janos disappears. This is a compelling, richly layered story of silent betrayals in a tightly knit village where the post-war air is simultaneously flush with hope and weighted with suspicion. Amidst an intricate web of cultural tensions, government control, family bonds and past mistakes, the truth behind many closely held secrets is revealed with life-altering consequences. The author is a masterful storyteller and this one is more than a notch above most novels. World War Two serves as the backdrop for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sprouting Wings </b>by Henry Faulkner ($17.99, Two Harbors, softcover) in which Alan Ericsson begins his journey to become a Navy pilot prior to the U.S. getting into the war. The novel expertly weaves together adventure, love, and historical fact to take the reader back to those days in the early 1940s as it showcases the difficulties of daily life for American military men and women. This is the first of a series of five novels that will follow the protagonist from rookie pilot to a respected member of a squadron. Another perspective will be seen in Alan’s wife, Jennifer, who works for the Office of Naval Intelligence and transfers to Pearl Harbor in August 1941. It would be attacked in December. For anyone wondering what life was like in those days and who also enjoys reading about aviation, this novel will prove a treat.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPEfpx_ClL4/VJy4uEIo4HI/AAAAAAAAPno/fXPu7_NkYR0/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BIf%2BYou%2BNeeded%2BMe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPEfpx_ClL4/VJy4uEIo4HI/AAAAAAAAPno/fXPu7_NkYR0/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BIf%2BYou%2BNeeded%2BMe.jpg" height="200" width="136" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If You Needed Me </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Lee Lowrey ($22.94, iUniverse, hardcover, $14.98 softcover and $3.99 Kindle) is a compelling narrative of loss, loyalty and love drawn from the real life of Ms. Lowry. When Jenny Longworth offers aid and comfort to her former college sweetheart David Perry who had recently lost his French wife to cancer, their youthful passion is reignited, creating a gauntlet of social and moral conflicts arising from the disapproval of friends and family when she uproots her life in Boston and moves to Europe to console David while he attempts to put his life back together. Most of his friends welcome her but some view her with hostility. And David’s children, Mark and Delphine, react to Jenny’s presence with confusion and ambivalence. It should not surprise the reader to learn that Lee Lowrey gave up a successful career in Boston and moved to Europe to help an ex-lover cope with his grief becoming in time an expatriate, second wife, and step-parent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those who enjoy a psychological thriller, they will find one in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Blue Journal </b>by L.T. Graham ($15.95, Seventh Street Books, softcover). When one of Randi Conway’s psychotherapy patients is found dead of a gunshot wound, the investigation is turned over to Lieutenant Anthony Walker, a former New York City cop now serving on the police force of an affluent community in Fairfield County, Connecticut. He lives among the privileged gentry, but knows from experience that appearance often hide reality. This is certainly true of Elizabeth Knoebel. When Walker finds her private journal entitled “Sexual Rites” it is clear she has been recording the explicit details of her sexual adventures with various men, many of whom are married to the women in her therapy group. She was a sexual predator and Walker believes that the killer is another of Randi Conway’s patients. You will find it hard to put this novel down. L.T. Graham is the pen name of a New England-based suspense writer who is the author of several novels and readers will look forward to the next one featuring Detective Anthony Walker.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Michael McCarthy is widely read in conservative circles and has authored<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>a novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Rainbow Option</b> ($13.50, 30 Cubits Press, softcover) a sequel to “The Noah Option” both of which look to a very different, future America when people struggle to survive under a flood of government oppression. It is a nation in which gangs stalk the streets and are ruled by petty tyrants. If that seems to come out of recent headlines of gangs of people shouting “Kill the Police” then you have a sense of the future in McCarthy’s second novel when economic collapse and tyranny is everywhere. The novel features software genius Isaiah Mercury and a brilliant botanist Grace Washington who lead the underground resistance people by those who have fled to refuges called “Arks” after Noah’s Ark. When the government unleashes a deadly virus against its own citizens, Grace and Isaiah race to develop a cure before millions die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It is a fast-paced tale that will hold your attention and make you think about the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">That’s it for January!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Tell your book-loving family, friends and coworkers about Bookviews.com, a report that tells you about books you may not read about anywhere else, but are sure to enjoy depending on your interests. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-76723012825832947062014-12-01T05:46:00.000-08:002014-12-01T05:46:04.019-08:00Bookviews - December 2014<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba</span><br /><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: red;">Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<o:p></o:p></span></span></h2><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tXEfF1scDuk/VHH2Ecat0PI/AAAAAAAAPZU/QepsjPWMwQM/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BAccidental%2BSuperpower.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tXEfF1scDuk/VHH2Ecat0PI/AAAAAAAAPZU/QepsjPWMwQM/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BAccidental%2BSuperpower.png" height="200" width="178" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Not long ago I read a book that predicted the decline of America as a world power. The author, a historian, made his case, but I was not convinced and, after reading Peter Zeihan’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation of American Preeminence and the Coming Global Disorder </b>($28.00, Twelve) I am encouraged to believe his hypothesis that America, by virtue of its geographic location and its tradition of welcoming and assimilating people who want freedom and liberty, will emerge safely from a period of disorder he sees ahead for the world. The entire book depends on his prediction of global disorder that will occur between 2015 and 2030. It seems to me that the world is always in some stage of disorder, but I agree that America’s unique location with two great oceans on its coasts and two allies, Canada and Mexico, north and south of us, plus our maritime and military superiority, bodes well for its future. Thanks to “fracking” we are going to be energy independent and we are the nation others send their money to keep it safe. Our agricultural sector is powerful as well. Zeihan writes of a future in which the world order in which the U.S. has provided since the end of WWII will be withdrawn. I find it hard to believe it will cease to ensure protection of the sea lanes vital to trade thanks to energy independence and the cost of ensuring world order—the absence of wars. The best that can be said is that reading his book provides a valuable insight to the way geography, location, determines in great part the history and the future of nations with whom we share this planet.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TD4X5Ey9ai0/VHHq4iGiIFI/AAAAAAAAPXU/O5k4P5p0lD8/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BColder%2BWar.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TD4X5Ey9ai0/VHHq4iGiIFI/AAAAAAAAPXU/O5k4P5p0lD8/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BColder%2BWar.png" height="200" width="157" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another book takes a look at America in terms of its superpower status with a particular emphasis between it and Russia, the former Soviet Union with whom the U.S. had a long Cold War. By Marin Katusa, it is titled <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Colder War: How the Global Energy Trade Slipped from America’s Grasp </b>($29.95, Wiley and Casey Research).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in and concerned about the future as we watch our influence and power drain away under the leadership of a President who has steadily worked to isolate the nation and withdraw from playing a role in international affairs. Katusa spells out why Russia’s Vladimir Putin has demonstrated a far greater grasp of geopolitical affairs than our President and what they means for ours and the world’s future. Russia has a wealth of energy reserves, coal, oil, and natural gas, much as the U.S. has, but the U.S. government has, for decades, suppressed its growth while the new Russian Federation under Putin’s leadership is expanding it. This book is so full of facts and insights regarding what is going on in the world’s energy sector that it is virtually essential to read it in order to understand what is happening and what may happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T8FT_rS2A_4/VHHrEX0-DVI/AAAAAAAAPXc/4GrRtv6zRaI/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BMoral%2BCase%2Bfor%2BFossil%2BFuels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T8FT_rS2A_4/VHHrEX0-DVI/AAAAAAAAPXc/4GrRtv6zRaI/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BMoral%2BCase%2Bfor%2BFossil%2BFuels.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Alex Epstein makes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels</b> as the author of his book of the same name ($27.95, Penguin Random House), providing a world of facts about coal, oil and natural gas that destroys all the blather about “renewable” energy, wind and solar. The latter are unreliable and expensive. Nations that have spent a lot of money on them have also discovered that their electric bills soared while, at the same time, they had to maintain plants fueled by fossil fuels to back up the “Green” energy “farms.” Despite all the criticism fossil fuels have received, their emissions represent no threat to the environment because carbon dioxide plays virtually no role to influence the weather or climate. While it has increased in the atmosphere, the Earth has been in a cooling cycle for the past 19 years! Moreover, fossil fuels exist in abundance around the world despite claims we will run out of them. The current fracking boom in natural gas and oil will make the U.S. energy independent with no need to depend on expensive imported fossil fuels. The point Epstein makes is that fossil fuels have transformed our human life, freeing humanity from its dependence on muscle power while transforming agriculture and bringing about an industrial revolution that has extended human life while enhancing it with the power to live in comfort and travel with ease. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-puWkuHXTQ9w/VHHrLTKFETI/AAAAAAAAPXk/VGYAMbSxWMA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BClimate%2Bfor%2Bthe%2BLayman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-puWkuHXTQ9w/VHHrLTKFETI/AAAAAAAAPXk/VGYAMbSxWMA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BClimate%2Bfor%2Bthe%2BLayman.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I would also recommend reading Anthony Bright-Paul’s excellent <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Climate for the Layman </b>($19.50, available via Amazon.com, softcover) which provides understanding and insights regarding the Earth’s climate in a way that a reader, with or without any knowledge of the science, can easily comprehend and enjoy. At a time when the UN has created a “Climate Fund” to redistribute billions from industrialized nations to those who have failed to take the steps to develop (often due to corrupt leaders) everyone needs to know what really constitutes the Earth’s climate and to grasp that it is the result of vast, powerful forces beyond anything humanity does. Our use of fossil fuels, for example, does not cause “global warming” and, indeed, the Earth is in a 19-year cooling cycle that reflects the Sun’s reduction in the amount of radiation it is producing, itself a natural cycle. The science is virtually self-evident. As the author says, “Once we accept that the Sun warms the Earth—that is to say the surfaces of this Planet—and that the surfaces warm the atmosphere by 'thermal contact' (1st law of thermodynamics) then we can see that all the arguments about carbon dioxide 'causing' warming of the atmosphere—trumpeted in so many of the Warmist websites—are irrelevant.” This book is distinguished by the author’s clarity and easy comprehension. I guarantee it will make you the smartest person in the room with the topic of climate comes up!<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hxK4blJ-u5w/VHHrSKfkKDI/AAAAAAAAPXs/yfiqpiVN59c/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BDear%2BMilton%2BFriedman.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hxK4blJ-u5w/VHHrSKfkKDI/AAAAAAAAPXs/yfiqpiVN59c/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BDear%2BMilton%2BFriedman.png" height="200" width="151" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of the greatest economists of our time was Dr. Milton Friedman, a 1976 Nobel Prize winner who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades. He was an advocate of the free market and known for his research on consumption analysis and monetary history and theory. Friedman died in 2006. My friend, Ben A. Cerruti, has worked in several aspects of our economy and has been active for two decades addressing various ballot issues in San Francisco. His website, </span><a href="http://www.arationaladvocate.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.arationaladvocate.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> is always worth visiting. “It did not enter my mind at the time that writing my first letter to Milton Friedman in March 1992 would lead to continuing correspondence for over a decade.” Though Cerruti had been a registered representative for a major New York Stock Exchange firm and had received a BSEE degree from the University of California at Berkeley, he “had never attended a single class on the key subject of economics either in college or high school.” He had questions about the Federal Reserve and other related issues so he wrote to Dr. Friedman and he generously responded to Cerruti’s questions and thoughts. The happy result is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dear Milton Friedman: A Decade of Lessons from an Economics Master </b>($14.94, softcover, available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and LULU), a collection of their exchange of letters. If economics is a mystery to you, I recommend reading this book. Friedman’s responses are an education in themselves. If you have wondered what makes capitalism different from socialism and why it has proven itself better at creating wealth anywhere it has been adopted, pick up <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What Adam Smith Knew: Moral Lessons on Capitalism from its Greatest Champions and Fiercest Opponents </b>($16.95, Encounter Books, softcover), edited and introduced by James R. Otteson.) We live in times in which even Communist China retains its political system, but has adopted capitalism and has, in three decades, risen to become a global economic power, For former Soviet Union failed because of its Communist economic system, but now competes as a major power in the energy marketplace. This book contains essays and excerpts by some of the top thinker on this important subject. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pfU1Vav0Dpg/VHHraE5KsvI/AAAAAAAAPX0/KlZCYLcujXs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BSpam%2BNation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pfU1Vav0Dpg/VHHraE5KsvI/AAAAAAAAPX0/KlZCYLcujXs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BSpam%2BNation.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For anyone eho is concerned about identity theft<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>resulting from the vast hacking operations that acquire all manner of information about people, then I strong recommend you read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spam Nation: The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime—From Global Epidemic to Your Front Door </b>by cybersecurity expert, Brian Krebs ($24.99, Sourcebooks). You will learn about the criminal masterminds behnd some of the largest spam and hacker operations who are targeting you and your bank account. I am frankly surprised this book has not generated more coverage in the mainstream press and on TV news channels and other programs. Spam costs the U.S. an estimated $40 billion a year and 85% of products purchased through span are bought by your fellow Americans. These are operations that can take control of your computer to blast out spam and viruses to your contacts, can infiltrate your inbox through malware embedded in emails and can harvest usernames, passwords, online banking credentials, and other personal information. It can lock you out of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. It can sell your account information on the digital black market. This may be the most important book you read this month.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t-IW8NPE0Vw/VHHrjoNWosI/AAAAAAAAPX8/M7Ys3MLHF7A/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BTreasure%2BIsland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t-IW8NPE0Vw/VHHrjoNWosI/AAAAAAAAPX8/M7Ys3MLHF7A/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BTreasure%2BIsland.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As you might imagine, I think books make great gifts and some are ideally suited to become personal heirlooms that remains a part of the lives of those receiving them. I could not help but think this when I saw two of the latest books from the <a href="http://www.foliosociety.com/">Folio Society</a>, London. This publisher offers fiction and non-fiction classics with special attention to producing a handsome looking, beautifully illustrated book. For boys this year, a new edition of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Treasure Island </b>by Robert Lewis Stevenson ($84.95) is available and for girls there’s Louisa May Alcott’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Little Women </b>($74.99). A visit to Folio Society’s website will excite anyone who has a deep love of books and wants to pass it on to a child or friend, or add to one’s personal library. For nearly seventy years the Folio Society has been devoted to publishing books that are individual works of art; the kind that are passed on from generation to generation. There’s even a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Folio 2015 Diary</b> at $24.95 to keep track of important dates and events in the year ahead. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eiBQuOyiBz8/VHHrsi66M6I/AAAAAAAAPYE/XcpbmoW_pmk/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWorld%2BAlmanac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eiBQuOyiBz8/VHHrsi66M6I/AAAAAAAAPYE/XcpbmoW_pmk/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWorld%2BAlmanac.jpg" height="200" width="134" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Every year for as long as I can recall, this is the month I recommend the latest annual edition of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">World Almanac® and Book of Facts </b>and<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> 2015</b> is no exception ($13.99, softcover). Now available, it features the top ten news topics of 2014 as well as offbeat news stories that are entertaining. The editors chose the most controversial franchise sports team owners for the new edition and have included some useful health care statistics among its encyclopedic collection of data. The results of the 2014 midterm elections are also included. You are sure to enjoy sections such as “The World at a Glance” and “Time Capsule” which make their return. I know we’re all inclined to Google answers these days, but the World Almanac® and Book of Facts is a treasure of information at your fingertips that is always a good idea to keep handy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Islam Examined</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--KJeeW7irbg/VHHr13xdYlI/AAAAAAAAPYM/NKViW3k8Hik/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BTyranny%2Bof%2BSilence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--KJeeW7irbg/VHHr13xdYlI/AAAAAAAAPYM/NKViW3k8Hik/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BTyranny%2Bof%2BSilence.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In September 2005, Fleming Rose, the editor of the Danish newspaper, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jyl-lands-Posten</i>, commissioned and published a number of cartoons about Islam, prompted by his perceptions of self-censorship by the European media. One of the cartoons, by the artist Kurt Westergaard, depicted Mohammad wearing a bomb in his turban. Muslims are forbidden to depict their prophet in any fashion and the cartoon set off a violent international uproar in which Danish embassies were attack and 200 deaths were attributed to the protests. The story of that event is told by Rose in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Tyranny of Silence: How One Cartoon Ignited a Global Debate on the Future of Free Speech </b>($24.95, Cato Institute). “My personal view is that Americans are right,” he says in the first chapter. “Freedom and tolerance are, to me, two sides of the same coin, and both are under pressure.” Rose, who had worked in the former Soviet Union, understood how numbing the suppression of criticism and the squelching of free speech can be. “Taking offense has never been easier” says Rose and he believes it has become excessive. As a working journalist, he sees threats to free speech and the intimidation of reporters on the rise in Europe. Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank and its books are always stimulating on often on the cutting edge of events and issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight Against Muslim Fundamentalism </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Karima Bennoune ($16.95, W.W. Norton, softcover) demonstrates that, within Islam, there are many who find the Islamists as great an enemy as non-Muslims who feel threatened. The author is an international human rights lawyer, professor and activist who recalls the night that, during the Algerian “dark decade” of fundamentalist violence in the 1990s, banged on the door of her family’s home when she was a young girl. Her father was a professor who was an outspoken critic of both the Algerian government and the fundamentalists who opposed it. She grabbed a knife to protect him, but those banging on the door went away. For their safety they would leave their Algeria. Her book chronicles the lives of those who resisted the extremism despite direct threats at home and Western indifference from abroad. She interviewed 286 people of Muslim heritage from 26 nations. Their tales from the battle for tolerance, equality, and freedom are stunning and inspiring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>These are people whose homes and workplaces were hit by bombs, who lost friends, family and coworkers to the extremists. It is well worth reading.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sd3MvotBddE/VHHswsNpyNI/AAAAAAAAPYU/IKvJmzoN01g/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BMoslem%2BMen%2BFear%2BWomen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sd3MvotBddE/VHHswsNpyNI/AAAAAAAAPYU/IKvJmzoN01g/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BMoslem%2BMen%2BFear%2BWomen.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There are 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide and many are decent, good people, but their silence encourages a faction of fanatical Islamism that is killing people with the intention of imposing Islam by terror on the world. James E. Horn is a retired U.S. diplomat who spent a decade in the Middle East and saw Islam up close. He has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moslem Men Fear Women: Islam is Toxic for Females </b>($15.19, softcover, available from Amazon.com) that spells out how Islam confirms a virtual slave status on women, citing the Koran and other sources. You will learn about “honor killings” and other practices that will likely cause you to ask why this aspect of Islam is not better known. He wrote it as a warning to non-Muslim women who are considering marrying into the faith. It is quite stark and quite accurate.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If I had to recommend a single book on the history of the United States I would unhesitatingly recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Patriot’s History of the United States</b> by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen. Its 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>anniversary edition has been published by Sentinel, an imprint of the Penguin Group of books ($25.00) and is 981 pages long. A softcover, it is a thick volume, but that just means it is filled with the kind of information you may not find in other histories that bring biases to bear on their interpretation of the nation’s great figures and the principles that created and sustained it. There is no question that America is truly exceptional, starting with the fact that we have the longest operative constitution of any other nation. The book does not shy from aspects of our history such as slavery, but puts it in the context of its times and reveals that many of the Founding Fathers wanted to abolish it, but could not because they needed the southern colonies to sign on to the creation of the nation. All the high spots of our history are there to be enjoyed. One can only express wonder, astonishment, and pride in the men who put their lives on the line for the idea of freedom, liberty, and a nation of laws.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GoJjTopX3ug/VHH0WNzRgyI/AAAAAAAAPYk/dbBYjdWI88c/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BA%2BChristmas%2BFar%2BFrom%2BHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GoJjTopX3ug/VHH0WNzRgyI/AAAAAAAAPYk/dbBYjdWI88c/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BA%2BChristmas%2BFar%2BFrom%2BHome.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A Christmas Far from Home: An Epic Tale of Courage and Survival During the Korean War</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> is told by Stanley Weintraub ($26.95, Da Capo Press), a noted historian who has authored more than fifty books of history and biography, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pearl Harbor Christmas</i>. Anyone who enjoys reading history will find this a timely Christmas gift. He takes the reader back to just before Thanksgiving in 1950, five months into the Korean War, often called the forgotten war. Weintraub was an Army officer in the Korean War so he brings a personal knowledge of the daily challenges the U.S. servicemen faced. Indeed, what they faced in addition to the frigid winter was a numerically overwhelming and determined enemy. General MacArthur believed he could bring the war to a quick end but his strategy nearly resulted in disaster. The U.S. troops had pushed swiftly to the Yalu River with what seemed little resistance. On the other side of the river, however, were the forces of Red China and when they began to pour into North Korea that forced a long march to the coast in an escape led by Marines. It did not end until the last American servicemen were able to board a ship and weigh anchor on Christmas Eve. Ultimately the war would be a stalemate for an America that had won World War Two not long before. A ceasefire exists to this day. That 1950 December was filled with drama and great courage that makes for great reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of the lesser known figures in the history of World War II was Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Treasury as well as a longtime personal friend of his. Peter Moreira has written a book about Morgenthau’s extraordinary contribution to the war effort by raising the billions needed to arm our military to fight the Nazis as well as the Japanese Empire. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Jew Who Defeated Hitler: Henry Morgenthau Jr., FDR, and How We Won the War </b>($25.00, Prometheus Books) Moreira has written a biography that tells the story of his achievement during that challenge to freedom and the Nazi’s accompanying campaign of genocide. At a time when there was considerable anti-Semitism in America, Morgenthau, a Jew, was in a position to do what he could to respond to the Nazi challenge and that posed by the Japanese. What he did was mastermind a savings bond program that raised the millions needed to arm the American military, building the aircraft, tanks, and all other elements of battle. The author admits the title of the book is an over-statement, but it does point to the fact that Morgenthau was the right man in the right place at the right time. Ironically, he was a college dropout who gave little indication initially of his skills and his accomplishments, but he was widely recognized as a man of integrity who ensured the Department of Treasury was run with the highest standards of ethics and integrity. Anyone who is interested in this dramatic era of our history will find this book fills in a largely overlooked aspect of it, the way Americans bankrolled our military and aided our allies to resist the Nazis. In the wake of the Holocaust, the anti-Semitism did not entirely cease, but it did fade considerably from American life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Parenthood<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0mGQPqC_N6Q/VHH0dtC-8WI/AAAAAAAAPYs/9wWN9eeChm0/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BForever%2BMom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0mGQPqC_N6Q/VHH0dtC-8WI/AAAAAAAAPYs/9wWN9eeChm0/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BForever%2BMom.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Adopting a child is a good option, but Mary Ostyn thinks the better prepared a woman is can make the process easier. That’s why she wrote <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Forever Mom: What to Expect When You’re Adopting </b>($16.99, Thomas Nelson, softcover). She married her high school sweetheart at age 19 and together they had four children by their eighth anniversary. Three years later they became aware of the needs of orphans all over the world and, in time, they adopted two boys from Korea and four girls from Ethiopia. In addition to her accounts of the experience she offers a range of advice that make adoption easier for everyone involved, citing the best reason to adopt—because you want to parent a child—to all the adjustments you should anticipate. The book has a religious orientation; Thomas Nelson is a Christian publisher, but the experiences she shares are well worth learning about. Coming in January is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Adopting Older Children: A Practical Guide to Adopting and Parenting Children Over Age Four </b>($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) by Stephanie Bosco-Ruggiero, MA, a communications and research assistant for the National Center for Social Work, Gloria Russo-Wassell LMHC, a certified counselor and doctoral candidate in educational and development psychology, and Victor Gorza, Ph.D., LISW-S, a professor of Social Work at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. With all those degrees between them they have collaborated to help anyone thinking about adopting one of the 200,000 children in the U.S. and more worldwide hoping to become part of a family. The book highlights the most significant challenges facing an older child including mental health, behavioral, and educational issues. The older adopted child may be coping with grief and a range of problems. The guide begins with advice on initiating the adoption process, explains the difference between infant and older child adoption, some of the obstacles one might encounter, and a full range of other advice to facilitate and respond to the entire process. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Just Be A Dad: Things My Father Never Told Me </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by George Cave, Ph.D. ($28.00, Tignor Publishing) is one of those books any man who is on the brink of being a first time father should read as well as one to help any man who is already experiencing fatherhood. It is filled with a richness of wisdom and reality. Dr. Cave begins with the view that it is impossible to be a good father if he is not a good husband. Thus, the model the father sets and his relationship with the mother is what their children learn is appropriate. A longtime psychologist, the author has great faith in the profession to help those who turn to psychotherapy to solve problems. It helped him mend his relationship with a former wife and to have a good relationship with their children and those she had in her new marriage. “Being a good father can be the most challenging thing a man will ever do,” says Dr. Cave and he believes it is critical to the kind of person his children will become. His book is filled with advice a new father might not get from others and all in one place between a front and back cover.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Our Furry Friends<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8MVB8T_JeL8/VHH0qY9PVtI/AAAAAAAAPY0/3-Jk-JUwaw4/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BFur%2BPerson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8MVB8T_JeL8/VHH0qY9PVtI/AAAAAAAAPY0/3-Jk-JUwaw4/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BFur%2BPerson.jpg" height="200" width="137" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For the cat lover in your life, there’s the classic <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fur Person</b> by May Sarton ($13.95, W.W. Norton, softcover), an acclaimed poet, novelist, and memoirist who passed away in 1995. She tells the enchanting story of Tom Jones, a fearless independent Cat Around Town who, growing tired of his vagabond lifestyle decided that he should move in with Sarton and her companion in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There’s a reason this book continues to be published. It’s just so much fun to read!<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For dog lovers, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Judy: The Unforgettable Story of a Dog Who Went to War and Became a True Hero </b>by Danien Lewis ($24.99, Quercus). Judy gained fame as the only animal POW of World War II. An English Pointer, she was fearless and loyal, dragging men from the wreakage of a torpedoed ship, scavenging food to help feed the starving inmates of a hellish Japanese POW camp, or just by bringing hope to men living through the war’s darkest days. She was adored by the British, Australian, American and other Allied servicemen who fought alongside her. Boring in Shanghai, China, she soon became the mascot for a gunboat called the HMS Gnat. When the war brought out the ship was transferred to Singapore. She was invaluable for her ability to warn of Japanese air attacks long before the warplanes became visible or audible to the British crew. Based on interviews with the few living veterans who knew her and extensive archival research, her story will inspire any reader who loves our canine friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><strong>People Books<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IDlJiOt2CrU/VHH0yw_44MI/AAAAAAAAPY8/xdjbSlG_UNk/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BFirst%2BSEALS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IDlJiOt2CrU/VHH0yw_44MI/AAAAAAAAPY8/xdjbSlG_UNk/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BFirst%2BSEALS.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Navy SEALS have been in the news of late, but little has been known of its beginning until Patrick K. O’Donnell wrote <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">First SEALS: The Untold Story of the Forging of America’s Most Elite Unit </b>($25.99, Da Capo Press). Credited with some of the most perilous missions in the history of the Armed Forces, SEALS are the stuff of Hollywood films and now you can read about the real-life heroes who composed the group’s origins/ They include Jack Taylor, now a California dentist, Sterling Hayden who became a Hollywood star, and others. The SEAL acronym stands for Sea, Air, and Land , known as a maritime unit, the first swimmer commandos and warrior spies who were decades ahead of their time when they created the tactics, technology and philosophy that inspires today’s generation of SEALs. You will be inspired as well when you read this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A very different story is told<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Into the Black: The Inside Story of Metallica (1991-2014) </b>by Paul Brannigan and Ian Winwood ($26.99, Da Capo Press). For the band, 1991 was a big milestone, its ten-year anniversary. In the years that followed, the group would battle criticism from the media, hits on its image as the leading “pop metal” band, and shaky rapport with the public that had brought it to fame. Last year Da Capo Press published volume one of the author’s two-part Metallica biography, “Birth School Metallica Death”, that chronicled the first decade. This volume delves deeper into the groups dealings with fans, fame, and competing banks. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Halfway Home</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">, the story of her trip to Japan by Christine Mari Inzer, a 17 year old senior at Connecticut’s Darien High School, is described as “a graphic novel” for younger readers, ages 12 and up. It features not only her drawings but photos of her taken during the trip, so it is more a memoir or a story by someone who has lived every minute of it ($11.95, Naruhodo Press, softcover). Indeed, the introduction says it is the story of her summer in 2013 when she spent eight weeks in Japan visiting her grandparents and getting reacquainted with her birthplace. Her Japanese mother is married to an American. Suffice to say it will prove very entertaining to a young reader and particularly to Asian-American youth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CihUjRnfJso/VHH1VtXUr0I/AAAAAAAAPZM/1E8xmaZadgw/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BDrum%2BTower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CihUjRnfJso/VHH1VtXUr0I/AAAAAAAAPZM/1E8xmaZadgw/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BDrum%2BTower.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Drum Tower</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> by Farnoosh Moshiri ($25.95, Black Heron Press) is his fourth work of fiction and it has already won an award as well as being nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award. It is a story narrated by a 16-year-old girl, depicting the fall of Drum Tower, the house of a family descended from generations of War Ministers to the rules of Iran. Peopled by interesting characters, it chronicles the early days of the Islamic Revolution that occurred in 1979 and overthrew the shah. We become witnesses to the competition of the competing factions and the rise of the Revolutionary Guard, along with chaos and murder in the streets of Tehran, as well as the arrests and executions of members of her family. In many ways, this provides a far more graphic look at what occurred than just a straight history as you join the narrator trapped in a labyrinth of family history and the turmoil of the revolution that affects current events. Superbly written, I am happy to recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Livingston Press is part of the University of West Alabama and over the years I have received some interesting fiction from them. The latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Light Like Ida Lupino </b>by W.C. Bamberger ($30.00 hardcover, $17.95 softcover). The main character, Lincoln Heath, has done something unforgiveable and as the novel begins he has returned to the northern Michigan peninsula where the event occurred in order to live near his grandmother and help her struggle to keep her financially-troubled cherry orchard survive being gobbled up by upscale vintners or condo builders. It is not a pleasant place made moreso by the fact that many still living there recall what happened and despise Lincoln. He’s not looking for forgiveness, but to find a way to restore the emotional spectrum he has lost. Suffice to say this is not your usual story that has any predictability to it. As such readers will find themselves wanting to see how it unwinds. The same publisher has another novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dark Road, Dead End </b>($31.00 hardcover, $17.95 softcover) by Philip Ciofarri that looks at the trade in exotic and endangered species, a multi-billion dollar industry. Reportedly it is the world’s third largest organized crime after narcotics and arms running. The story is told through the eyes of Walter Morrison who works undercover for the U.S. Customs Service. It’s not long after he arrives in town that he sees evidence of wildlife smuggling. The wildlife is supplied to pet stores, private hunt clubs, wildlife safari parks and even “respectable” zoos. As he delves into it, someone at his own agency has put out the word about him, putting his life at risk. Here again, a novel provides considerable insight within the fictional context.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vhZiOLBOUXI/VHH0_n4tSxI/AAAAAAAAPZE/YFj7kCVCeYA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BOblate's%2BConfession.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vhZiOLBOUXI/VHH0_n4tSxI/AAAAAAAAPZE/YFj7kCVCeYA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BOblate's%2BConfession.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Those who enjoy historical novels will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Oblate’s Confession</b> by William Peak ($25.99, Secant Publishing) that takes them back to the dark ages in England. A warrior gives his son to a monastery that rides the border between two rival Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and, growing up in a land wracked by war and plague, the boy learns of the oath that binds him to the church and which forces a cruel choice on him. To love one father, the one of his birth or the bishop for whom he prays daily, he must betray another, he is forced to make a decision that shatters his world and haunts him. History provides us with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Little Miss Sure Shot: Annie Oakley’s World </b>by Jeffrey Marshall ($8.95, available from Amazon.com, softcover and ebook edition). Famed as a star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, she was catapulted to international fame in the late 1880s by virtue of her firearms skills. While Hollywood has portrayed her as a young woman in “Annie Get Your Gun”, she actually was a rather prim and religious woman with a 50-year marriage to Frank Butler. Her legend lives on to today and the reality portrayed in this novel will have you admiring her in this breezy, easy read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those who enjoy a traditional mystery, there’s E. Michael Helm’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Deadly Ruse: A Mac McClellan Mystery </b>($15.95, Seventh Street Books, softcover) that begins when Mac’s girlfriend, Kate Bell, thinks she has seen a ghost. Wes Harrison, Kate’s former boyfriend, supposedly perished twelve years earlier in a boating accident, but she is sure that the man she spotted in a crowded theatre lobby is Wes. Being a private investigator, Mac begins to look into what happened and what emerges is a story of drug deals and, when Mac and Kate barely escape a murder attempt, he knows he’s on the right track. It is a very entertaining, tightly written story.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s it for December. As we bid 2014 goodbye, we can look forward to a new year filled with great fiction and non-fiction. Bookviews.com is the place to visit each month to learn about them. Tell your book loving friends, family and coworkers. And come back in January!</span> </span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-31131520955109966192014-10-31T06:02:00.000-07:002014-11-10T06:47:18.525-08:00Bookviews - November 2014<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you have been having problems figuring out what is going on in Syria, then I recommend you read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect </b>by Reese Erlich ($25.00, Prometheus Books).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>What began as a civil war to remove Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator and son of the previous one, turned into conflict that pitted a number of different groups against one another and against ISIS, an offshoot of al Qaeda that has since seized a swath of northern Syria and Iraq, declaring itself the Islamic State. Erlich has reported from the Middle East for many years and knows all those involved. He provides a useful history of events that began with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and the subsequent creation of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon as England and France divided up the area as colonial possession only nominally ruled by local sheiks. The Syrian people, largely secular, have been caught in between the Assad forces that those seeking to oust him. The result has been a bloodbath in which some 900,000 have died and two million or more have fled Syria to neighboring nations. Naturally, powers like Russia and Iran have wanted to play a role, supporting Assad, while the U.S. lined up with the free Syrian forces. While Erlich brings politically liberal point of view to the text, he does so while also providing a useful explanation of what is occurring and why.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c8GMTSIropc/VE0qq6oupGI/AAAAAAAAPFU/2DnMKVvf_uM/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BRight%2Bfor%2Ba%2BReason.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c8GMTSIropc/VE0qq6oupGI/AAAAAAAAPFU/2DnMKVvf_uM/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BRight%2Bfor%2Ba%2BReason.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">November is a political month thanks to the midterm elections, so I am happy to report that there’s a book for conservatives—women in particular—by Miriam Weaver and Amy Jo Clark, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Right for a Reason: Life, Liberty, and a Crapload of Common Sense </b>($26.95, Sentinel, an imprint of the Penguin Group) that puts aside the usual ultra-serious examination of the differences between conservatives and liberals and defends conservatism with a heaping of humor and straight talk. In that regard it is very refreshing. The authors started a website, ChicksontheRight.com in 2009 and it became a very popular site for all the issues that conservatives grapple with. The authors are unapologetic about believing that America is an exceptional nation, unhappy with the way schools and universities preach a liberal doctrine replete with political correctness. They don’t look at people in terms of their race or gender and have a problem with those who do. It’s a relatively short book, but a breath of fresh air and a reminder of the values that conservatives hold despite the lies told about them as bigots, waging “a war on women”, and other inanities that are repeated endlessly in the media.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">We tend to take for granted the fiction that has transformed America by their impact on the generations that have read them. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books </b>Azar Nafisi examines her favorites, Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Sinclair Lewis’s “Babbitt”, Carson McCuller’s “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter”, plus—despite the book’s title—James Baldwin’s “Another Country.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Nafisi became famous a decade ago when her book, “Reading Lolita in Tehran” was published. She told how, despite Iranian morality squads and even executions, she taught American literature to her sometimes skeptical students in iran. The book became a bestseller with a million copies in print. She became an American citizen in 2008 and is now a fellow at Johns Hopkins University of Advanced International Studies. This is a woman who has deeply pondered what it means to be an America? Why are the values of American art, music, and literature so evidently at odds with the nation’s politics? Is America founded as much on heartbreak as on hope? Blending memoir and polemic with close readings of the books she has selected, she seeks answers to those any a host of other questions. In doing so she has written a book that invites the reader into the “Republic of the Imagination”, a country that has no borders, one in which the real villain is conformity, and the only passport to entry is a free mind and a willingness to dream.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRpPq2wWCvw/VE0vPF5MiTI/AAAAAAAAPHo/NzQHSxVHpbs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BTastosterone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRpPq2wWCvw/VE0vPF5MiTI/AAAAAAAAPHo/NzQHSxVHpbs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BTastosterone.jpg" height="200" width="158" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I have seen many cookbooks over the years and have wondered why few. If any, were written exclusively for men who like to cook or want to learn how. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tastosterone: The Best Cookbook for Men </b>by Debra Levy Picard ($39.95/$14.99, hardcover and Kindle, DLP Enterprises) is not only filled with lots of delicious recipes, but also the kind of instructions that cookbook authors tend to assume the reader already knows. I can’t say this is “the best”, but I can say, given its specific audience of readers—men—it surely fulfills its mission. It does not assume that the recipes are super simple to prepare or that men would not be interested in a wide variety of dishes to tempt the palate. Each one comes with a shopping list of elements needed to prepare dishes ranging from lasagna to veal Milanese. Each recipe comes with estimated time of preparation and how many servings it provides; good, useful information. This would make a great Christmas gift for the man who wants to enjoy cooking and baking. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Throughout the year Bookviews receives books that don’t fit into any category and most surely <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jane Austen Cover to Cover: 200 Years of Classic Covers </b>($24.95, Quirk Books) fits that description. Margaret C. Sullivan loves everything Austen and is the founder of AustenBlog.com and has authored “The Jane Austen Handbook.” This book is filled with the cover art of her books from the years, 1811 to 1818 when she was published. When she died suddenly in 1817 her work almost slipped into obscurity, but publisher Richard Brankley recognized that there was still an audience for it. Since then publishers have worked overtime to produce editions of her novels and film adaptations have introduced it to new generations. If you are one of those fans or know someone who is, this book would make an idea Christmas gift.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Memoirs and Autobiographies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EvxRfgUe89c/VE0vXxJb-mI/AAAAAAAAPHw/2cDTO0Smz3A/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BSinging%2Bto%2Ba%2BBulldog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EvxRfgUe89c/VE0vXxJb-mI/AAAAAAAAPHw/2cDTO0Smz3A/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BSinging%2Bto%2Ba%2BBulldog.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Those of us who grew up enjoying “Happy Days” on television, will especially enjoy Anson Williams delightful autobiography, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Singing to a Bulldog</b> ($14.99, Reader’s Digest). I have read many autobiographies, but rarely with the enjoyment of Williams’. Throughout the book he tells us of the advice he received as a young boy from an older African-American worker, Willie, in a department store where they both swept the floors. His parents were an unhappy argumentative couple who he left behind at an early age, harboring a dream of becoming an actor and singer. Along the way to the fame he would achieve, it was Willie’s advice that was a constant guide to his behavior, advising him to pursue his dreams, remain humble, and to give back to others as his success would permit over the years. In addition to his years on “Happy Days” he would become a successful director, writer, producer and entrepreneur. He would also meet some of the most famous people in show business and others like Ronald Reagan. Every page is filled with the events and personalities that helped him and his appreciation for them, as well as the friendships he enjoyed with his fellow “Happy Days” performers. Married with five daughters, this is a life well lived and an inspiration to the readers of his autobiography.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As this is written, a Missouri police officer who killed a young, black man in self-defense has endured a firestorm of attacks that have also generated riots in Ferguson. In time the facts will exonerate him and Michael Cover’s memoir <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Behind the Badge: A Policeman’s Legacy </b>($18.99, self-published, softcover) of his 24 years as a police officer in Southern California provides an excellent insight to the reality of being a police officer, one who must constantly operate in the midst of uncertainty, deal with gangs, the mentally deranged, and the drug crazed. They face knives, chemicals, and betrayal on the job as they daily fight criminals, bureaucracy, and, as we have seen, negative stereotypes. I have known a number of police officers and to a man (or woman) they go into the profession with a desire to help people. His book is well worth reading, particularly in a time when police officers now find themselves under attack by Islamic fanatics in addition to the others that would harm them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The criminal world is one which we all live, fearful of becoming its victims, and Katarina Rosenblatt, Ph.D., tells of her horrendous youth and survival of having been lured into child prostitution as part of a sex trade that exists in the shadows of society. Recruited while staying with her family at a hotel in Miami Beach, she was already a lonely and abused young girl who simply yearned to be loved. For years afterward, she endured a cycle of false friendships, threats, drugs, and violence. As she points out, this could happen to any child. She tells her story in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stolen </b>($14.95, Revell, softcover) and was saved after she heard Billy Graham preach that God would never forsake her. She escaped her fate and went on to earn a Ph.D. in conflict analysis and resolutions, and a law degree in intercultural human rights. Today she works with law enforcement agencies that include the FBI and Homeland Security as she focuses on the prevention and rescuing of the victims of the sexual slave trade. This memoir is well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PcvBJE3tyUw/VE0vf7FuMxI/AAAAAAAAPH4/mtm_9DkJjOM/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BJohn%2BMarshall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PcvBJE3tyUw/VE0vf7FuMxI/AAAAAAAAPH4/mtm_9DkJjOM/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BJohn%2BMarshall.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I love reading history and, in particular, American history. While we are all familiar with the names of the Founding Fathers, Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Monroe and Madison, one man who played an extraordinary role in defending the Constitution is finally given his rightful honors in Harlow Giles Unger’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Marshall: The Chief Justice Who Save the Nation </b>($27.99, Da Capo Press). Rarely mentioned in the history books that are used in our schools, Marshall’s life is a reflection of the turmoil that accompanied the Revolution in which he fought with distinction, followed by the his biggest battle, to protect and assert the role of the federal government and the Constitution that defined its powers and limits. He begins with the death of George Washington in 1800, the man who had led the fledgling nation through the long Revolution and then with two terms as its first President. As Unger says of the young Union, “they lost their way.” Indeed, “Chaos engulfed the land as surviving Founding Fathers…turned on each other as they clawed at Washington’s fallen mantle.” That’s the dramatic beginning of a book that will give you a very different view of the men we hold in such great honor because with the exception of those who clung closely to the Constitution, others like Jefferson were so power-hungry, they would have tossed it overboard if Marshall had not been appointed Chief Justice by John Adams who followed Washington as President. The Supreme Court rendered decisions in the nation’s earliest years that defined the powers of the federal government and those of the states. It protected contracts. And, what Marshall feared came true; the southern states declared secession and a brutal Civil War threatened the republic. Thanks in great part to Marshall and his Court, the Constitution sustains the oldest system of self-government in the history of man. This is a great book that I heartily recommend to everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Thomas Jefferson is one of the nation’s iconic founders and while there have been many books about his life, M. Andrew Holowchak has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thomas Jefferson: Uncovering His Unique Philosophy and Vision </b>($26.00/$12.99, Prometheus Books, hardcover and Ebook), delving deeply into Jefferson’s writings to reveal an intensely curious Enlightenment thinker with a well-constructed, people-sympathetic, and consistent philosophy. Holowchak has written a number of other books about Jefferson and his knowledge of the man is amply on display as he examines Jefferson who was himself greatly influenced by Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and John Locke. This book looks at Jefferson’s views on human nature, morality, education, and the liberalism he brought to bear in his service to the nation. Jefferson was most surely a man of letters and his gifted writings helped shape the new nation.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--tmAGYFB8I8/VE2DwGByNYI/AAAAAAAAPJE/g6yznx8Q2iE/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BGolda%2BMeir.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--tmAGYFB8I8/VE2DwGByNYI/AAAAAAAAPJE/g6yznx8Q2iE/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BGolda%2BMeir.png" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I particularly enjoy reading about people who changed history because of a dream they had and most certainly that describes Golda Meir, one of the pioneers of the state of Israel and one of its prime ministers. Ann Atkins has written a very readable biography, <strong>Golda Meir--True Grit</strong>, ($14.95, Flash History Press, softcover) of this remarkable woman who, from very early in her life, concluded that the Zionist dream of a nation where Jews could be free of the prejudice and oppression they faced in the world, could be made a reality. She was a woman of remarkable capabilities who earned the respect of all who heard her speak or dealt with her. Not only did she help bring about the creation of Israel in 1947, she was instrumental in securing the funds needed to defend it and for years after she held a number of key roles. She is an inspiration and I would surely recommend this autobiography to anyone who wants to learn about her and Israel.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those of the era in which Playboy magazine, which debuted in 1953, became an empire of Playboy clubs around the U.S. and the world, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Playboy on Stage: A History of the World’s Sexiest Nightclubs </b>by Patty Farmer with contributions by Will Friedwald ($24.95, Beaufort Books) is a special treat, especially like myself, who can recall visiting the clubs and being entertained by some of the greatest musical and comedic talent of those days. At the height of their popularity in the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the clubs were collectively the largest employers of talent in the nation. To his credit, Hugh Hefner and his staff were colorblind welcoming African American starts and furthering both civil rights and gender equality. The original club was in Chicago, but it was soon joined by venues in Miami, New Orleans and New York, and other global cities. Who could ever forget the lovely “bunnies” that served food and drinks? Not me. The book tells the story of clubs in the words of many of the artists, musicians, singers, and comedians, as well as those behind the scene. This is history that is, dare I say, very entertaining.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Food for the Mind and Body<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TGXzSLVrt4E/VE0vnFZUvMI/AAAAAAAAPIA/VwzP_cReTIg/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBest%2BFood%2BWriting%2B2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TGXzSLVrt4E/VE0vnFZUvMI/AAAAAAAAPIA/VwzP_cReTIg/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBest%2BFood%2BWriting%2B2014.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Mother taught gourmet cooking for three decades and wrote a number of cookbooks, so food was always a topic in our home where dinner was always an adventure. For others who enjoy the topic, I can recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Best Food Writing 2014</b>, edited by Holly Hughes who has edited this series ($15.00, Da Capo Press, softcover) since 2000. Some of its articles discuss the latest food trends, minus the hype, such as the trend toward spicy foods and the heightened popularity of bacon. Fifty writers have their say in this edition and there’s plenty to enjoy in it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Like a lot of Americans, I had no idea what gluten was or that it caused thousands of children and adults the distress of health-related problems. Dr. Alessio Fasano is one of the world‘s leading authorities on gluten and celiac disease and&nbsp;in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gluten Freedom</b> ($24.95, Wiley)&nbsp;he presents the facts about&nbsp;what gluten does, whom it affects, and what can be done for the millions of Americans, most of them undiagnosed, with celiac disease. Dr. Fasano is the founder and director of the Center for Celiac Research at Massachusetts General Hospital and a visiting professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He notes that gluten intolerance&nbsp;hadn't even been&nbsp;identified as recently&nbsp;as twenty years ago, nor recognized by either the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or the National Institute of Health. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the last ten years,”&nbsp;writes Dr. Fasano.&nbsp;&nbsp;His book provides a clear, concise roadmap for understanding why gluten does what it does and what can be done about it. Celiac disease is a genetic disorder affecting children and adults; even the slightest bit of gluten can set off an autoimmune reaction, one that can eventually lead to the complete destruction of part of the small intestine. If you suspect you or someone you know might have Celiac disease, this is definitely the book to read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Sex, Love and DNA: What Molecular Biology Teaches Us About Being Human</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">($17.77, softcover/$9.99 Kindle, Olingo Press, Foster City, CA) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>is one of those titles that is hard to resist even it may sound a bit intimidating. Written by Peter Schattner, a member of the Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, it is written for non-scientists. Its chapters focus on age-old questions such as “What is Love?”, “What is Sex?”, and “What Makes Some People So Smart?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This is what is often called popular science and we are fortunate that this particular science, as provided by Schattner, will astound and entertain you far more than any science fiction might. It is a fascinating journey into the biology of our cells as the author explains how proteins and DNA affect our lives. He should know. He is a scientist, educator and writer with thirty years’ experience in molecular biology, biomedical instrumentation, and physics. This book explores the mysteries of being human and I heartily recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Science Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Richard Grossinger first published <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Night Sky: Soul and Cosmos</b> in 1981, updating it in 1988 and again this year ($29.95, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA, softcover) and if you have an interest in astronomy, this massive 800-plus page volume will pretty much tell you everything you ever wanted to know. Where he found the time is a mystery given the fact that he has written more than twenty other books and edited eight others. Grossinger believes that “science is telling us half or less of what it is doing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>He has devoted his life to investigating four main topics, medicine, cosmology, embryology, and consciousness. I would have been exhausted just investigating one of them! “The universe that science can’t get out is the university of our being, e.g., our basis as cosmic witnesses…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>So, if you have ever looked up at the night sky with its countless stars and wondered what was out there and how you relate to it this book will surely provide some profound answers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting Down to Business<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CO4Sampp0BQ/VE0vuhoBgKI/AAAAAAAAPII/ohoXJXrpKdQ/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWinners%2BDream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CO4Sampp0BQ/VE0vuhoBgKI/AAAAAAAAPII/ohoXJXrpKdQ/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWinners%2BDream.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">What is often forgotten about America and what makes it truly exceptional is the world of opportunity it offers to those willing to work hard to make their dreams come true. That is the message of Bill McDermott’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Winners Dream: A Journey from Corner Store to Corner Office</b>, written with Joanne Gordon ($28.00. Simon and Schuster). These days McDermott is the CEO of SAP, the largest business software company in the world. It’s a long way from working-class Long Island where he had traded three hourly-wage jobs to work at a corner deli. When its owner decided to sell the story, McDermott was still in high school, but he bought it with a $7,000 loan, learning how to serve customers, outshine competitors, and growing his small business. Using the deli’s profits to pay for college, he moved on to selling copiers door-to-door in New York City for Xerox in the 1980s. Not surprisingly he became a top salesman and Xerox’s youngest ever corporate officer. SAP was a languishing unit and he was named its president. He would lead it to nearly triple software revenues, outpace the company’s overall growth, and achieve market leadership. Inspiring? You bet! Worth reading? You bet! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The world of business is filled with fascinating personalities and their stories. One of them was Albert Champion, the founder of AC Delco and Champion Spark Plug. He would become a tycoon investing in what was there the new and revolutionary auto industry when Chevrolet and General Motors, among others, were just beginning. Peter Joffre Nye has captured his life in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fast Times of Albert Champion: From Record-Setting Racer to Dashing Tycoon, an Untold Story of Speed, Success, and Betrayal </b>($26.00 Prometheus Books).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Champion rose from poverty in Paris to great wealth and fame in both his native France and the United States. As a bicycle racer, he set more than a hundred world records. He used his prize money to invest in an industry that would make the U.S. a world leader in automobile manufacturing. He also famous for many dalliances and his final love triangle resulted in his death under mysterious circumstances. This one is fun to read from start to finish.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">No More Business as Usual</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> by Chutisa and Steven Bowman ($24.99, Access Consciousness Publishing, softcover), a husband and wife team who currently advise more than 440 organizations a year, along with a thousand CEOs and board chairs at international companies, is definitely unusual because it departs from the usual books on the subject of business success. They describe it as a “paradigm-changing book that presents a system and tools for consciously generating different possibilities” to grow a business. They believe they have found the underlying reasons why leaders succeed and fail. In short, they believe that being able to see different possibilities instead of concentrating on what the competition is doing opens doors to success. I have seen comparable books on this topic, but this one has merit too.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Books About Christmas<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">This is the time of year when new editions and versions of Christmas-related books arrive. For a younger generation they provide their first introduction and for older generations they can be gifts to the younger that will be long remembered.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Penguin Books offers “classics” and this year they have five, all priced $16.00, that are a little library of Christmas classics. They are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Merry Christmas &amp; Other Christmas Stories</b> by Louisa May Alcott, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Night Before Christmas </b>by Nikolai Gogol, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Nutcracker</b> by E.T.A. Hoffman, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Christmas at Thompson Hall &amp; Other Christmas Stories</b> by Anthony Trollope, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Christmas Carol </b>by Charles Dickens. At 5 inches wide and seven-and-a-half long, they would be easy for a youngster to hold while reading and easy to stuff into a Christmas stocking. For anyone who loves this holiday, they are a small treasure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mB2pr9Tg0NI/VE0v30tJPAI/AAAAAAAAPIQ/YpVsYObZV_g/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BInventing%2BScrooge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mB2pr9Tg0NI/VE0v30tJPAI/AAAAAAAAPIQ/YpVsYObZV_g/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BInventing%2BScrooge.jpg" height="200" width="143" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A Christmas Carol</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> has also been published by Running Press, a member of the Perseus Group under its “Steampunk” imprint ($18.95). It also includes “A Christmas Tree” and “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton.” This edition is beautifully illustrated by Zdenko Basic. It would make an excellent gift for anyone of any age, but the younger reader in particular will enjoy it. From Carlo Devito comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Inventing Scrooge: The Incredible True Story Behind Dicken’s Legendary A Christmas Carol </b>($22.99, Cider Mill Press). Devito has delved into the story of the classic from when it was conceived by Dickens on a train ride to Manchester in October 1843. He would write to his wife, “I can never write with effect…until I have become so excited with my subject that I cannot leave off.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>That’s a good description of the way this now classic Christmas tale grips a new reader of it. The literary story behind it is explored and Devito says he has uncovered the true identity of Ebenezer Scrooge. Indeed, the Carol is highly autobiographical, utilizing his youth and his family’s earliest travails. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A parent’s crazed efforts to prove to his 4-year-old that Santa is real is the crux of a curious story, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Real Santa</b> by William Hazelgrove ($29.95, hardcover; $16.95 softcover, $7.99 Ebook,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Koehlerbooks) George Kronenfelt is an unemployed engineer who is intent on keeping his daughter’s belief in Santa intact. When she tells him that the only way she will believe in Santa is if she can videotape him and post it to YouTube. George realizes he must become the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real Santa</i> and from then on we are entertained by his efforts to find reindeer, hire a broken down movie director, and fulfill his promise becomes a funny, heartwarming story of parenthood gone awry as keeping a child happy dominates everything else for a while.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Our Furry Friends<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rqOXY-kMDaM/VE0v-W6JFtI/AAAAAAAAPIY/cn5GaqCCYSA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BGood%2BLuck%2BCat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rqOXY-kMDaM/VE0v-W6JFtI/AAAAAAAAPIY/cn5GaqCCYSA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BGood%2BLuck%2BCat.jpg" height="200" width="146" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Over the years Lissa Warren has sent me many books as the director of publicity at Da Capo Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. We’ve never met, but I most surely recognized her name as the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Good Luck Cat: How a Cat Saved a Family and a Family Saved a Cat </b>($21.95, Globe Pequot Press). She writes of Ting, a seven-pound Korat who was brought into the family as a companion for her father while his wife and daughter were at work. Ting quickly endeared herself. In late 2008 Lissa’s father died of a heart attack and less than a year later Ting was diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart condition. They made the decision to have a human pacemaker implanted, a rare procedure to be sure but they were determined not to lose their beloved gray cat. If the memoir ended with that, relating the grief and hope that they had all shared, it would be a testament to the close relationships we share with our pets, but Lissa received her own diagnosis, multiple sclerosis, There is no cure, but Lissa thinks Ting has taught her how to cope and has a remarkable, positive attitude. MS has taught her how others love her, including Ting. Anyone who shares their life with a family cat will absolutely love this book and be inspired by it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Ask Anna: Advice for the Furry and Forlorn</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> by Dean Koontz and his dog Anna ($20.00, Center Street) is a pure delight. Koontz is one of the most successful novelists of our time with more than 450 million copies in print, in 36 languages, 14 of which have been number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. Anna is identified as an advice columnist for dogs. This is her first book. It is a marvelously funny, entertaining book that is further enhanced by the wonderful photos by Vincent Remini. Koontz introduces the book saying he had noticed that other dogs in the neighborhood seemed to consult with Anna, a Golden Retriever. Then he noticed she appeared to be having conversations as well with all sorts of people they encountered in their daily life. Then, if you can believe this, he discovered she had “secretly acquired her own computer and was engaged in the dispensing if advice online to all manner of species.” Suffice to say that the advice is worth a good nod of its worth on every page and more than a few laughs. A great gift for sure. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uWtIZH5qBdQ/VE0wFjPJ5NI/AAAAAAAAPIg/zAsV8DqjbYs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2Bwhat-the-lady-wants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uWtIZH5qBdQ/VE0wFjPJ5NI/AAAAAAAAPIg/zAsV8DqjbYs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2Bwhat-the-lady-wants.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I like when a novelist can turn history into romance or drama and Renee Rosen does both in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What the Lady Wants</b> ($15.00, New American Library, softcover) with a story that begins with the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 which left the city in a state of destruction and depression. With typical American vigor, men of wealth saw a greater future for the city and began building department stores and other enterprises that led to the city hosting the World’s Fair in 1893. On the night of the fire, 17-year-old Delia Spencer watched as the flames consumed her beloved hometown and on that same night she met a man named Marshall Field. He built one of the department stores with the motto “Give the lady what she wants” and Delia fell in love with him. Behind the success and the opulent life style of his fellow entrepreneurs, Potter Palmer and George Pullman, their private lives were riddled with scandal and heartbreak. Delia and Marshall first turn to each other out of loneliness in their separately ruined marriages, but their love deepens and they stand together despite ostracism in an age of devastation and opportunity. Moving forward to modern times, the city is Dubai and it is the setting for Kay Tejani’s debut novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Power and Passion</b>, ($9.90, Global Impact Publishers, softcover). The novel encompasses three women living in a world of extreme wealth, filled with seven star hotels, man-made islands, and even glass-enclosed ski slopes. Sara Shariff had come to Dubai with her Muslim parents from Canada three years earlier and is working as the events coordinator for the Middle East section of the Special Olympics. Her fiancé, a non-Muslim real estate executive from the United Kingdom suggests she run a gala on a grand scale to raise money. She is joined by Joan Harrison who has been running successful charity events for years and by her best friend, Maryam. All is going well under a devastating lie changes the course of Sara’s life, putting everything she is doing in jeopardy. The author knows the city well, having lived there for many years. She brings an authenticity to the story that women readers in particular will enjoy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Mysteries and suspense novels just keep coming. Here are some of the latest softcovers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Dead Broke in Jarrett Creek—A Samuel Craddock Mystery </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Terry Shames ($15.95, Seventh Street Books) After Jarrett Creek went bankrupt and Gary Dellmore, heir apparent to the main bank is dead, The retired Craddock is asked to return as police chief. Dellmore was known to have a roving eye despite his marriage and Craddock wonders whether a husband or father of those women thought he should be eliminated? What he discovers is that Dellmore had a record of bad business investments including the loan he took that brought about the bankruptcy. The more he digs, the uglier the story becomes. Also from Seventh Street Books, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Black Karma: A White Ginger Novel </b>by Thatcher Robinson ($15.95) in which Bai Jiang, San Francisco’s best known s<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ouxun</i>—people finder—is hired to track down the mysterious Daniel Chen. Police inspector Kelly suspects Chen of being involved in a botched drug heist that resulted in the death of an officer. Bai has her own suspicions. She thinks the police just want to see Chen dead. In the course of the investigation, she finds herself caught between international intelligence agencies and merchants of war, who deal in death, drugs, and high-jacked information. There’s intrigue aplenty here. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Sister’s Grave </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Robert Dugoni ($15.95, Thomas &amp; Mercer) will add to his fame as the author of bestselling legal thrillers. In this novel Dugoni returns with a powerful and poignant story of a homicide detective determined to avenge the murder of his beloved younger sister. Seattle cop Tracy Crosswhite was a high school chemistry teacher when her teenaged sister Sarah disappeared one night on her way home to their small town of Cedar Grove. A young ex-con, Edmund House, was quickly tried and convicted. Twenty years later and a career change later, Tracy has dedicated her life to questioning whether the right man went to jail. When Sarah’s remains are uncovered from a newly-exposed lake bed, new evidence seems to support Tracy’s theory. Somewhere in Cedar Grove is a killer. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blame: A Casey Portman Novel </b>by Linda Rocker ($14.95, Wheatmark) is enhanced by the fact that Ms. Rocker worked more than 35 years as a trial lawyer and judge in Ohio’s highest trial court. Lawers turned novelists is becoming a trend, but it helps if they’re good at it and Ms. Rocker is as she tells the story of a young man who dies of a drug overdose and his mother is looking for someone to blame. She embarks on an obsessive crusade to destroy the pain doctor who gave her only son the pills the killed him. The Palm Beach Courthouse and an ambitious prosecutor become the tools of her revenge. Casey Portman, the judge’s bailiff, is dealing with her love for a handsome sheriff, but the ripple effects of the young man’s death and a trial of a respected neurosurgeon fills this story with plenty of twists and turns, that will keep you reading it. Lastly, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unrelenting Nightmare </b>by Stan Yocum ($20.95, iUniverse) follows a virtual reality software developer on the cusp of industry domination as he navigates a deadly cat-and-mouse game with an international assassin hired by his fierce competitor. The author brings both his theatre background and extensive background in the business world in the writing of this novel as he tackles the prevalence of violence and the impact of virtual reality on youth. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for November! Come back next month as we look at some ideal books for Christmas gifts and just good reading. Tell your book-loving friends, family, and co-workers about Bookviews.com. Happy Thanksgiving!</span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-35809182972011641242014-10-01T06:13:00.000-07:002014-10-01T10:02:11.885-07:00Bookviews - October 2014<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span></b><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0rSq_QlIoBo/VCgX2dHUjbI/AAAAAAAAO30/9HGATzvykNQ/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BRussia-China%2BAxis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0rSq_QlIoBo/VCgX2dHUjbI/AAAAAAAAO30/9HGATzvykNQ/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BRussia-China%2BAxis.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Obama administration’s foreign relations policies have significantly weakened America and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Russia-China Axis: The New Cold War and America’s Crisis of Leadership </b>($27.99, Encounter books) by Douglas E. Schoen and Melik Kaylan reveals how these two nations, in league with Iran, North Korea and other nations, have drawn closer together as they have initiated massive military buildups of conventional and nuclear forces. The Obama “reset” with Russia has proven to be just one of many failures to realize how its policies are endangering America’s role as a superpower to which other nations have looked for protection. Russia’s and China’s trade and economic policies, along with their support for Iran’s ability to create its own nuclear weapons and their aggressive actions to expand territorial claims are in violation of UN norms. The annexation of Crimea by Russia is just the tip of the iceberg, as are China’s actions in international waters reveal their true intentions, but the U.S. response has not just been weak, but its reduction of the U.S. military to levels that existed before WWII are a danger to national security. Both nations have been facilitating rogue regimes like North Korea, Iran, and Syria, as well as militant Islamic groups. Both are engaged in massive cyber theft and espionage directed against the U.S. It is significant that Schoen, one of the most influential Democratic campaign consultants for more than thirty years, is so critical of the Obama regime. Kaylan is a leading authority on international politics. Together they have written a book that anyone and everyone concerned about current events and their future potential that should be “must” reading. They have documented a very scary future for America. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a63teiGEO_k/VCgX-gULdLI/AAAAAAAAO38/f2jHPzpxZ4o/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BFault%2BLines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a63teiGEO_k/VCgX-gULdLI/AAAAAAAAO38/f2jHPzpxZ4o/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BFault%2BLines.jpg" height="200" width="125" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As Americans continue to try to understand what is occurring in the Middle East, Donald Liebich has provided some answers in his excellent look at the region and America’s involvement there. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fault Lines: The Layman’s Guide to Understanding America’s Role in the Ever-Changing Middle East </b>($16.99, Elevate, Boise Idaho, softcover) is both filled with history and other facts about the region and its importance to our lives. The author is not a career diplomat or a think tank expert, but instead has been in the U.S. Navy, followed by a career with a corporation and as a consultant to business enterprises. It included many trips to the Middle East over the past ten years that included meeting many of the key players as well as the common people. His extensive knowledge is shared with the reader in ways you may not read in newspapers or other U.S. media. Liebich explores why the U.S. got involved—ensuring the oil we needed as a rising power in the wake of both world wars—and why President’s 41 and 43 felt the need to force Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, then to invade Afghanistan in response to 9/11 and later to rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein. He explains why the “Arab Spring” failed and why the U.S. has lost much of the influence it once had. This book is “must” reading for anyone trying to make sense of the headlines and reports.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4lty0z1zFA/VCgYICLjtdI/AAAAAAAAO4E/YJ_1czMymLA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWorth%2Bof%2BWar.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4lty0z1zFA/VCgYICLjtdI/AAAAAAAAO4E/YJ_1czMymLA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BWorth%2Bof%2BWar.png" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As Americans face the likelihood of having to return to the Middle East to attack and destroy the Islamic State, many questions about the waging of war will arise and the perfect book to respond to them is Prof. Benjamin Ginsberg’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Worth of War </b>($24.00, Prometheus Books) in which the historian and scholar lays out how and why war over the centuries has produced the modern world thanks to the development of the bureaucracies to wage them, the financial developments to fund them, and the emergence of the concept of the citizen soldier to fight them. While war is terrible and brutal, it has also advanced the world in many ways as nations realized they needed strong economies to wage and win wars, developed the propaganda techniques to justify them, and have seen the spread of knowledge to both the winners and losers from the days of the Greek and Roman Empires to the present era. This is an interesting, thought-provoking book for anyone interested in history and the role that war has played throughout. Throughout our history, policies have been introduced in Congress that their supporters thought would benefit Americans only to discover that they created problems that had to be corrected or modified at some point. That’s the subject of Thomas E. Hall’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Aftermath: The Unintended Consequences of Public Policies</b> ($15.95, Cato Institute). I would recommend it to anyone studying political science at the university level or who is interested in U.S. history in general. A professor of economics at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, he has written a number of books that demonstrate his capacity to do a lot of research and explain the complexity of events like the Great Depression or the causes of economic fluctuations. This book is particularly timely insofar as the debacle of Obamacare has demonstrated once again that government interference with the marketplace often results in a disaster. The book demonstrates that when the government imposes new taxes, rules, or regulations, the outcome can produce consequences so severe they render the intent a failure. Prohibition is one example he examines, alone with cigarette taxes, both of which created crime empires. The concept of a minimum wages can leave a younger generation jobless. And the income tax has led to a giant federal government, the exact opposite of what the Founders laid out in the Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Not everything is or should be taken as seriously as war and thank goodness for that! Some books are written just to entertain and can be read for that reason. A perfect example of that is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1,399 Quite Interesting Facts to Make Your Jaw Drop </b>by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin, and the QI Elves ($15.95, W.W. Norton). The authors are the brains behind the award-winning BBC quiz show, QI. The book lives up to its name. For example, the human nose can distinguish between over 10,000 smells and humpback whales can sing non-stop for 20 hours. Your brains makes a million new connections every second and Chopin only performed 30 concerts in his entire life. Suffice to say, every page has four facts that will manage to inform and entertain you at the same time. I loved it. For sheer fun if you are the parent of a new baby or know someone who is, pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Make Your Baby an Internet Celebrity: Guiding Your Child to Success and Fulfillment</b> by Rick Chillot with photography by Dustin Fenstermacher ($12.95, Quirk Books, softcover). Suffice to say this is satire, a pure tongue in cheek “guide” for all those parents who love posting the latest photo or video of their child on their blog or some site like YouTube where fame is instant. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For anyone who loves animals, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Daisy to the Rescue: True Stories of Daring Dogs, Paramedic Parrots, and other Animal Heroes </b>by Jeff Campbell ($17.99, Zest Books, softcover) is sure to please. As his book demonstrates, animals are not only our companions, but become in many cases, true lifesavers as well. The book is enhanced by original illustrations by Ramsey Beyer that illuminate more than 50 amazing stories of how animals can not only make our lives better, but even save them on occasion. You will enjoy stories of bottlenose dolphins rescuing surfers from a great white shark, lions protecting a kidnapped girl, and a pig stopping traffic to get help for a heart attack victim. Great fun to read. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Judy: The Unforgettable Story of a Dog Who Went to War and Became a True Hero </b>by Damien Lewis ($24.99, Quercus, softcover) will cheer and inspire any lover of dogs with its story of an English pointer, born in Shanghai, China in 1936 who became the mascot for the English gunboat, HMS Gnat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>When war broke out , the crew was redeployed to Singapore and Judy had a keen sense of when an attack would occur. She and her shipmates were taken prisoner by the Japanese where they endured horrible conditions. The camp commandant gave her recognition as a POW, protecting her from harm. She helped maintain her fellow POW’s morale. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I love reading history. It never fails to provide an understanding of what is occurring in the present times or provide a glimpse into the lives of those who helped shape it in some fashion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lCisKk1G0mU/VCgYRbxeNDI/AAAAAAAAO4M/EK83V737rb4/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BRebel%2BSouls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lCisKk1G0mU/VCgYRbxeNDI/AAAAAAAAO4M/EK83V737rb4/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BRebel%2BSouls.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">It would surprise most people to learn that Walt Whitman, one of America’s great poets, was living in the basement of his mother’s home at age 40 or so, having published two editions of “Leaves of Grass” to virtually no sales and few reviews, most of which were unfavorable. This and the story of one of America’s first gathering place for writers, poets, artists, actors, and other free spirits on the eve of the Civil War is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rebel Souls: Walt Whitman and America’s First Bohemians</b> ($27.99, Da Capo Press) by Justin Martin. The book focuses on a New York saloon, Pfaff’s, in a Broadway area that was filled with restaurants, art galleries, bookstores, and other places that made it a favorite place for the city dwellers. Pfaff’s, was overseen by Henry Clapp, Jr. who had returned from several years living in Paris with the aim of recreating the atmosphere he enjoyed in nightspots that catered to creative folk. It would attract a group of people, most of whom did not achieve Whitman’s later fame, but were widely published and known in their own time. Though we may think of the 1850s, lacking electric lights and other modern conveniences, as a bit ancient, intellectually and artistically, it represented much of what we regard as modern culture. Indeed, politically it reflects our present times. “Congress was simply nonfunctional. The Presidents of the era were generally bunglers until Lincoln was elected. By the late 1850s, there didn’t exist a single official U.S. institution that wasn’t in crisis,” notes Martin, who writes that “A common stance among Clapp’s set was a kind of sly cynicism. Every aspect of American society seemed so eroded, so diminished; drinking, carousing, and trading witty barbs in a subterranean bar—what else even made sense?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>For anyone who loves history and wishes to understand Whitman’s times, his life and work, this book is a real treat! Whitman lived long after the Civil War was over, but many of his contemporaries at Pfaff’s did not, burning out before they reached much beyond age 30. In all this is a book that is a fascinating look at the era in which the most famed of American poets found his unique voice.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those who enjoy a hefty volume, you will not be disappointed by Donald L. Miller’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America </b>($37.50, Simon and Schuster) which, at just over 750 pages, cover the topic extensively and entertainingly. The central figure of the Roaring Twenties era was Jimmy Walker, New York’s dashing Mayor. It was during this time that midtown Manhattan was the center of a construction boom that changed the character of the city as the area around Grand Central Terminal became home to the tallest skyscrapers on earth as well as the fabled residences of the wealthy along Park Avenue. Times Square was America’s movie mecca and home to bustling theatres. New York became the headquarters for national radio and the site of influential magazines like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New Yorker</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The city was becoming the center for a whole new universe of culture and enterprise that included now legendary names like Florenz Ziegfeld, David Sarnoff, William Paley, Duke Ellington, and others like the speakeasy owner, Texas Guinan. Jack Dempsey and Babe Ruth were sporting giants of the decade. Everything about the city and the times was about size and excess. The Crash of 1929 brought an end to the era captured lovingly in Miller’s book, one well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In our fast-paced world, one can be forgiven for having forgotten the uproar in 2005 when a Danish newspaper, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jyllands-Posten</i>, published a number of cartoons about Islam, including one drawn by artist Kurt Westergaard that depicted Muhammad with a bomb wrapped in his turban. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Tyranny of Silence</b> ($24.95, Cato Institute, softcover) Fleming tells the story of the “cartoon crisis” that followed as Muslims in Europe and around the world erupted in protest. Danish embassies were attacked and more than 200 deaths were attributed to the protests. Rose came to symbolize one of the defining issues of our era; the tension between respect for cultural diversity and the protection of freedom—particularly freedom of the press and of free expression. Fleming tells of what he had to confront in the aftermath of the outcry. This is his personal account of an event that has shaped the debate about what it means to be a citizen in a democracy at the same time that more than a billion Muslims take offense at any criticism of their religion.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another Cato Institute book worth reading is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bootleggers &amp; Baptists: How Economic Forces and Moral Persuasion Interact to Shape Regulatory Politics </b>($24.95) b</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">y Adam Smith and Bruce Yandle. It reflects our era of “crony capitalism” in which businesses engage the government to enhance their bottom lines. Throughout our history, the government has been a good place to sell one’s goods and to manipulate the marketplace to one’s benefit. Yandle’s theory asserts that regulatory “bootleggers” are parties taking political action in pursuit of economic gain. His book examines major regulatory activities such as Obamacare, the recent financial bailouts, climate change regulation, and rules governing “sinful” substances. The burden of regulations, some of which are deemed “significant” because their effect on the economy is estimated at $100 million or more each year they are in force, is being felt in all areas of the nation’s economy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MCVgt4qv3Gw/VCgYZiUB5AI/AAAAAAAAO4U/jyzgPRObzNc/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BMuhammad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MCVgt4qv3Gw/VCgYZiUB5AI/AAAAAAAAO4U/jyzgPRObzNc/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BMuhammad.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">With Islam in the news as a threat to everything including secular Muslims, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It’s All About Muhammad: A Biography of the World’s Most Notorious Prophet </b>by F.W. ($16.95, Zenga Books, softcover) is very timely and very scary. What emerges from F.W. Burleigh’s intensively researched book is the portrait of a deeply disturbed, extremely violent individual and one whose life is venerated by over a billion Muslims as a guide to how they should live theirs. It is a religion Muhammad put together, thinking his epileptic seizures were a communication with God whom he called Allah. He cobbled together the faith he created, borrowing from Judaism and Christianity, but ultimately rejecting them and all others as he dictated the Koran. Muhammad literally declared war on all other faiths. Fleeing those who saw him as a danger, he built Islam through a history of assassinations, banditry, kidnappings, and beheadings that made Islam feared in his own time. Fourteen centuries later, Islam is still feared and it should be. This book will answer all your questions, but will not be available for sale until October 15 when you can purchase it via Amazon.com.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Those who enjoy reading about the Civil War will surely enjoy S.C. Gwynne’s excellent biography of Stonewall Jackson, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson </b>($35.00, Scribner) that brings to life the story of one of the Confederacy’s greatest generals. Like Gen. Robert E. Lee, Jackson, while he had won plaudits and promotion during an earlier war with Mexico, had led a generally undistinguished life, not much filled with success or the portents of their close cooperation during the Civil War that held off a far larger Union army and defeated it in several major battles. Jackson virtually invented the concept of swiftly moving large numbers of troops while keeping the Union unaware of their movement. He was a taciturn man and paid little heed to his attire. Far more than just an account of battles, Gwynne delves into his personal life that included the loss of his beloved first wife. During the course of the war he emerged as a man of legend, dying of a wartime wound in May 1863, uttering as his last words, “Let us cross the river and rest under the shade of the trees.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Bill O’Reilly of Fox News has made a separate reputation as the author of books about the killing of noted figures, the latest being “Killing Jesus” which has been on the bestseller list for weeks. Robert M. Price, a New Testament scholar has authored several books on Christian matters and his latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Killing History: Jesus in the No-Spin Zone </b>($18.00, Prometheus Books, softcover). O’Reilly claims that his book is a purely historical account of the events in the life of Jesus leading up to his crucifixion, but Price regards it as the number one source of misinformation on Jesus today that ignores the past century’s New Testament scholarship, interpretations, and findings. He makes his case that O’Reilly’s books is little more than historic fiction. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">To Your Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I miss seeing more cookbooks that offer a range of tempting and tasty items to eat. So many are “health” oriented and that’s okay, but my Mother was a cookbook author and taught gourmet cooking for several decades. Dinner at our house was always a treat and, frankly, we ate everything…with gusto!<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Tasting the Seasons: Inspired, In-Season Cuisine That’s Easy, Healthy, Fresh and Fun </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Kerry Dunnington ($19.95, Artichoke Publishers, softcover) is happily filled with some 250 recipes that reflect the season’s bounty with a section on meat and chicken dishes, but if you prefer vegetables than you will find many more dishes that featured plums, mangos, tomatoes, and others such items. The author is a culinary consultant and caterer who specializes in “healthy” eating and entertaining. You will learn a lot from this book which offers some surprising ways to turn ordinary dishes likes pancakes and waffles into a health-related event using salba, teff, millet and flax seeds! I come from the old school of ordinary pancakes with butter melting on top of a stack and plenty of maple syrup. Even so, there is no doubt that anyone with health in mind will greatly enjoy this book and its wide range of recipes. In a similar fashion, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Forks Over Knives Plan: A 4-week Meal-by-Meal Makeover </b>($24.99, Touchstone, an imprint of Simon and Schuster) by Alona Puide, MD, and Methew Lederman, MD, with Marah Stets and Brian Wendel, and recipes by Darshana Thacker and Del Srouga offers itself as a guide on “how to transition to the life-saving, whole-food, plant-based diet.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It asserts that various diseases can be reversed by leaving meat, dairy, and highly refined foods off the plate. This is a serious effort to help people who may be experiencing health problems due to their current diet of foods that most of us enjoy without having to give any thought to them. The back cover is filled with endorsements by physicians and others, but the bottom line is whether you want or need to switch to a diet that may not challenge your taste buds as you dine on navy bean hummus and mixed vegetable pita pockets. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-muB95reswwI/VCgYnh6cb4I/AAAAAAAAO4c/HJpDAeNRaHA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BSugar%2BSavvy%2BSolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-muB95reswwI/VCgYnh6cb4I/AAAAAAAAO4c/HJpDAeNRaHA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BSugar%2BSavvy%2BSolution.jpg" height="200" width="160" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Apparently I have a sugar addiction because a day without chocolate or ice cream is unthinkable to me. That said, the issue for many people is one of moderation. And a lot of them are fat because of eating too many sweets. The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sugar Savvy Solution </b>($24.99. Reader’s Digest) will teach you how to “kick your sugar addition for life and get healthy.” Written by&nbsp;"High&nbsp;Voltage"&nbsp;with a foreword by Katie Couric it offers a eating plan that, over a six-week period promises to “rewire” your brain chemistry and retain your taste buds to break your addition to sugar, as well as “excess salt, bad fats, and enriched white flour.” It is more than just a diet, but it has helped readers to lose weight over the weeks you engage it, using its recipes and advice. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For the three million Americans with celiac disease, avoiding gluten can be the difference between life and death. If you add in those with nonceliac gluten sensitivity, the number of people experiencing gluten issues triples in number. They are the people who should pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Complete Guide to Living Well Gluten Free </b>by Beth Hillson ($17.99, Da Capo Press, softcover.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The author is the food editor of the magazine, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gluten Free &amp; More</i>, and she knows this topic from A-t0-Z. As she points out, gluten hides in everything from food to commonplace household items. For those sensitive to it, it can cause gastrointestinal distress, rashes, anemia, depression, and in the long term, cancer, infertility, and organ failure. That’s reason enough to read her book if you or someone you know are incurring these symptoms. The book is filled with practical, comprehensive advice on all the aspects of living from a child who is allergic to Play-Doh to gluten-free dining. The author is the president of the American Celiac Disease Alliance and her book could be life-saving for anyone with the disease or troubled by gluten-related health problems. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Among the recommendations in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Prescription for Life: Three Simple Strategies to Live Younger Longer</b> ($19.99, Revell) by Dr. Richard Furman are “six foods you should never eat again” and “why lack of exercise is killing you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The author is a vascular surgeon who says that while aging is inevitable, a variety of diseases associated with it are not. The preface to his book says you should consider it as a letter from a friend who is a doctor “explaining in straightforward terms what is happening to you as you count the days to another birthday.” Among the foods he recommends you avoid are a juicy steak, cheese, and a variety of other things we all commonly eat. The fact is, however, we all need meat in our diet for its protein and other benefits, so the author may be overstating his case in this area. My feeling is that this is a book for people overly concerned about aging. The medically-oriented advice the author offers is worth considering, but the rest is just widely known common sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Un-Agoraphobic: Overcome Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and Agoraphobia for Good </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Hal Mathew ($18.95, Conari Press, softcover) is one of those titles that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the book. The author, a journalist, was plagued by panic disorder and agoraphobia, the fear of open, public places, but overcame his disorders twenty years ago and has since become an expert on the topic. If you or someone you know experiences these problems, I would surely recommend you read his book. He recommends putting a structure in your daily life so you know what you intend to do and do it each day. He gives tips on choosing a therapist to help. His style is easy to read and I have no doubt that this book will help anyone seeking to overcome these disorders.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A Caregiver’s Guide to Dementia </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Laura N. Gitlin, Ph.D. and Catherine Verrier Piersol, Ph.D., ($22.00, Camino Books, softcover) addresses the common challenges encountered by individuals and families caring for someone with dementia. This is an easy-to-read guide designed to help at-home caregivers navigate the daily challenges with clear and proven strategies that can enhance the quality of life for those with dementia—a condition for which there is no medical cure. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Advice about Your Life<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">At various points in our lives we all need and can benefit from good advice. We seek it from family and friends, but there are books that provide it as well and have the advantage of being non-judgmental. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ospNlvZECJk/VCgY1_11LNI/AAAAAAAAO4k/KpuEquU0UeM/s1600/Coer%2B-%2BHave%2Ba%2BHappy%2BFamily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ospNlvZECJk/VCgY1_11LNI/AAAAAAAAO4k/KpuEquU0UeM/s1600/Coer%2B-%2BHave%2Ba%2BHappy%2BFamily.jpg" height="200" width="136" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Have a Happy Family by Friday </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Dr. Kevin Leman ($17.99, Revell) is the latest of some forty books this internationally known psychologist and media personality has written. It is part of a series of series using “Have…by Friday”, advising how to have a new you, a new teenagers, a new husband, etc. Suffice to say he is extremely prolific, but he has a world of knowledge about marriage and family issues that have benefited many readers. He stresses good communications with family members and then provides tips on navigating the problems that occur with toddlers, teenagers, and all ages. What he wants is for Mom to be Mom and Dad to be Dad. They are different each in their own way. And it applies to single parents as well. I must confess I was intrigued by the title of Seth Adam Smith’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Your Life Isn’t For You: A Selfish Person’s Guide to Being Selfless </b>($12.95, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, softcover). Turns out that Smith is writing from experience as someone who was seriously self-obsessed and the harm it inflicted on his life and his marriage, one that included addiction and depression. The book is distinguished by his candor and by the lessons he drew from the hard-earned lessons he learned. He tells you that your life is about being of service to others in countless ways and thus the title becomes clear. If you feel you’re encountering problems because of your own selfish attitudes or behavior, I strongly recommend you read his book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In our present times, many people are inclined to dismiss any religion in their lives, but I have noticed that those who do embrace faith seem to have an easier, happier life. Sarah Jakes is the daughter of Bishop T. D. Jakes and she oversees the woman’s ministry at The Potter’s House of Dallas, a church led by her parents. She is the author of “Lost and Found” and now a new book for women that shares the hope-filled legacy of Ruth, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Colliding with Destiny</b>, ($24.99, Bethany House). The life of Ruth, as told in the Old Testament, is one in which she went from being a widow to a wife with a secure, protected future, one that paved the way from the birth of King David. Ruth never let her past define here and the message for any woman that reads this inspiring book is full of good things.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those who like to delve deep into the philosophical questions about life, Edward O. Wilson, biologist and naturalist, author of more than twenty books, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, and a professor emeritus at Harvard University, is back in his 85<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> year with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Meaning of Human Existence </b>($26.95, Liveright Publishing, a division of W.W. Norton). The book consists of fifteen tightly interlinked essays broken into five parts—the meaning of meaning, science and the humanities, other life forms, the developed mind, and our collective future. Essentially, he believes that the human species is at its best when it functions as a team and, of course, we see many expressions of this in sports and industry, among other ways we come together, For those who ascribe to beliefs regarding the environment and what we are allegedly doing to it, this book will confirm them and is thus not for everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting Down to Business (Books)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Thinking of investing? Wall Street seems to be saying we’re out of the Great Recession and the troubles occurring around the world will not affect profits here at home. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Investing Answer Book </b>by Paul A. Tucci ($21.95, Visible Ink, softcover) is ideal for the investing novice or whether you think you have spotted a trend. Tucci covers the whole investment marketplace from stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, tax strategies, to retirement planning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>In plain English he explains the basics while giving tips on how to avoid poor returns and unnecessary risk. In 2011 he authored <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Handy Personal Finance Answer Book </i>and been an investor for more than three decades, a former global information and publishing manager, a business owner and partner in an innovative IT services and software development firm. His book pretty much answers all the questions you would ask a financial advisor and much more. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sBkfNiXN5JA/VCgY_qrOkXI/AAAAAAAAO4s/RhwEF833ZC0/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BStreet%2BSmart%2BSelling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sBkfNiXN5JA/VCgY_qrOkXI/AAAAAAAAO4s/RhwEF833ZC0/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BStreet%2BSmart%2BSelling.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Street Smart Selling: How to Be a Sales Superstar </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">is the kind of title you would expect from Daniel Milstein ($17.05, Gold Star Publishing, softcover) and, for anyone starting out in sales it is a treasure of various guidelines to use for the ambitious beginner as well as established professionals who want to improve to a higher level of success. Much of the book has a message of self-improvement for motivated individuals. Milstein comes from a background in which his family in the Ukraine narrowly escaped the Soviet Union and made their journey to America. His is the classic American story of success, from sweeping restrooms in a fast food restaurant to becoming the CEO of one of the nation’s most successful mortgage brokerage firms. Happily for the reader, Milstein shares what he has learned about making sales and this could just be the only book you will need to read for your own successful sales career.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p0Ta2xu1ZEg/VCgZLRQ6BfI/AAAAAAAAO40/YA46cjte0Bs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBest%2BPart%2Bof%2Bthe%2BDay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p0Ta2xu1ZEg/VCgZLRQ6BfI/AAAAAAAAO40/YA46cjte0Bs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBest%2BPart%2Bof%2Bthe%2BDay.jpg" height="200" width="154" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Best Part of the Day </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Sarah Ban Breathnach and beautifully illustrated by Wendy Edelson ($16.99, Regnery Kids) is a wonderful way to create a daily tradition of focusing on the small pleasures of daily life that often get lost in our busy, disconnected lives. It teaches young children aged 4 to 10, how to enjoy the little things that make life sweet. As the author says, “Gratitude is often thought of as an intellectual concept, when gratitude is really a small seed planted in the heart that is nourished through acknowledging all the good that surrounds us. Good that can be discovered through the reassuring comfort of family customs, rituals, and traditions, and restoring a sense of rhythm in our daily round and through the changing seasons.” It celebrates the changing seasons and the joy of simple pleasures such as feeding birds or tending a garden. Parents and their children will rediscover and learn why common experiences are to be valued and enjoyed to the fullest. I loved it and you and your young children will too.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Teaching children ages 4 to 8 how to value money is the theme of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Alex’s Ten-Dollar Adventure </b>($15.95, Three Bean Press) by Wendy Bailey and wonderfully illustrated by Ernie D’Elia. It begins with a birthday gift for Alex from his grandparents, five dollars. Alex is very excited but his mom leads him to understand that many things he wants cost more and Alex checks out his bank to discover he has enough for ten dollars. He wants to spend it all and finds ways to do it, learning along the way how swiftly the ten becomes less with every purchase. In the end, mom encourages him to put back five dollars to save for what he wants, a new toy. As the son of a CPA, I can celebrate this delightful way to teach fundamental lessons about spending and saving.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GTnCu2jJxYU/VCgZTX8LCVI/AAAAAAAAO48/qLxLgmpnlKs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThunder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GTnCu2jJxYU/VCgZTX8LCVI/AAAAAAAAO48/qLxLgmpnlKs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThunder.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A young adult novel that is sure to please is Bonnie S. Calhoun’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thunder </b>($16.99, Revell) that begins in a post-apocalyptic world and society where the landscape is littered with the hopes and ruins of past generations. Every is struggling to survive and one of them is Salah Chavez whose family of bounty hunters, live off the reward they earn with each capture of the Landers, a mysterious people from a land across the big water. As she turns 18 with nothing to look forward to then being traded as a bride to a neighboring clan, she discovers secrets that will tear her world apart. What follows will keep the pages turning. They will do the same with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unmarked</b> by Kami Garcia ($18.00, Little Brown Books for Young Readers), her eagerly anticipated sequel to “Unbreakable”, a novel leading off her “Beautiful Creatures” serials that was published in fifty countries and translated into 36 languages! In the sequal, Kennedy Waters lives in a world where vengeance spirits kill, ghosts keep secrets, and a demon walks among us—one she accidently set free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Now she and the other Legion members have to hunt him down. They are on the run, outcasts who each possess a unique skill. This one is a powerful fantasy like the first.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Jay Brandon has written a novel that taps into the belief that the U.S. is actually run by a secretive group and the result is a lot of fun to read. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shadow Knight’s Mate </b>($16.95, Wings Press, softcover). After all, he’s written fifteen previous novels! In this one, Jack Driscoll is a member of a shadowy group known as The Circle. Its members have stealthily shaped America’s foreign and domestic policies for more than two centuries even though they do not hope office, nor are famed corporate leaders. They operate through suggestion and subtle influence, but now the Circle has been broken as the nation comes under a bizarre nanotech attack and the question is from whom? And what will be the outcome?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dtCvzdNUj38/VCgZcIqKXEI/AAAAAAAAO5E/B3Pd1S71klQ/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBy%2Bthe%2BBreath%2Bof%2Bthe%2BPeople.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dtCvzdNUj38/VCgZcIqKXEI/AAAAAAAAO5E/B3Pd1S71klQ/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBy%2Bthe%2BBreath%2Bof%2Bthe%2BPeople.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By the Breath of the People</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">, Gil Bean makes his debut with part one of “The Last River series” ($19.99, Langdon Street Press, softcover). It is a meticulously research work of fiction that intertwines the stories of two men living on the same land three centuries apart. One is a young Lenape Indian coming of age as his people are being driven from their native lands by European settles. The other is a father and grandfather building a retreat for his family on a bluff high above the river. Though they come from very different backgrounds and times, the two men are connected by the land of the Delaware River Valley. This is deeply felt history as lived by the people who call the land home. I have lived in the area where the Leni Lenape Indians lived and some of the major roads of my home were formerly trails they blazed, so I felt a special attachment to the novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Lawyers seem to have a particular knack for writing fiction. In the case of Larry S. Kaplan, a practicing trial attorney since 1975 and author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When the Past Came Calling </b>($10.56, available from Amazon.com and as an ebook) his novel begins in 1989 and a key government scientists has gone missing. He has made a genetic discovery that turns Darwinism on its ear and could pose a threat to world security should it land in the wrong hands. Personal injury lawer, David Miller, is the FBI’s unlikely recruit to help solve the disappearance. When he was just 16, he had falling in love with a girl whose father is the FBI’s prime suspect, a cult leader named Philip Montgomery, but his trail has gone cold. The FBI wants to know what David can recall of the girl and his bizarre father. As he delves into old memories, revising people and places left behind long ago, a new riddle confronts him and it involves the assassination of JFK and his girlfriend’s conviction that Lee Harvey Oswald wasn’t acting alone. Ah, circles within circles and sure to please.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Lee Kronert is a chiropractor and a math teacher as well as an advocate for divorced men’s rights. When he isn’t tend to those other things, he writes and his two latest—yes, two—novels published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson, are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t Blame the Messenger </b>($13.95, softcover) and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mental Cruelty </b>($19.95, softover). In his fictional narratives, he merges fact and fiction to paint a realistic picture of the controversial educational and judicial systems with which we all must cope. In the former novel, he taps his experiences as a teacher to take on school policies, state Department of Education leadership, bullying, and his view that a teacher’s tenure should be maintained. If these issues ring a bell with you, this might be a novel to read. In the latter, Kronert uses his characters to relay the turmoil he experienced as his marriage dissolved into a painful divorce. Through the life of his main character, he speaks out on behalf of all fathers in opposition to the legal system. I tend to take a pass on novels that have an agenda, but I admire the author’s hard work in the writing of these two novels.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nSwXWz0P8n8/VCgZppoY8iI/AAAAAAAAO5M/4YjWO7X_368/s1600/Cover%2B-%2B%2BThe%2Blife-we-bury-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nSwXWz0P8n8/VCgZppoY8iI/AAAAAAAAO5M/4YjWO7X_368/s1600/Cover%2B-%2B%2BThe%2Blife-we-bury-.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Life We Bury </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Allen Eskens ($15.95, Seventh Street Books, softcover) is a very creative idea involving Joe Talbert who has been given a writing assignment for an English class. He is to interview and write a brief biography of a stranger and, with deadlines looming, he visits a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, a dying Vietnam veteran—and a convicted murderer! With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to the nursing home after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder. As Joe writers about Carl’s life, especially his valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism with the despicable acts that followed. And Joe has his own problems at home as he unravels the story of Carl’s conviction, but by the time he discovers the truth, it is too late to escape the fallout. This is a very compelling novel and I recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: text2;">That’s it for October! You’ve got November and December to pick out some great books to give as gifts. Tell your family, friends and coworkers about Bookviews.com so they can find the perfect book for someone special or for themselves! And come back in November.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-10115218131968845092014-09-03T08:53:00.001-07:002014-09-03T15:50:52.179-07:00Bookviews - September 2014<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tlpC5A3CFJc/U_dxE-LXKjI/AAAAAAAAOlE/rlNsoaEerTc/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBig%2BFact%2BSurprise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tlpC5A3CFJc/U_dxE-LXKjI/AAAAAAAAOlE/rlNsoaEerTc/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBig%2BFact%2BSurprise.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">We are besieged with advice on what to eat and the government has long been involved in steering everyone toward certain choices. Much of the advice it has given out over the years has been erroneous and for anyone who has a serious interest in this, there’s Nina Teicholz’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat &amp; Cheese Belong in a Health Diet </b>($28.00, Simon &amp; Schuster) that debunks the dogma about the evils of disease-causing fats that are part of the official dietary guidelines and the advice of diet books gurus and other experts. They also are put forth by the multibillion dollar industry of low-fat foods. Teicholz researched this book for six years and her thick volume which includes more than a hundred pages of detailed notes details how a single flawed study by a scientist who devoted his life to convincing influential organizations like the American Heart Association to point to the eating of fat as the cause of strokes and heart attacks. Tons of literature has been written about cholesterol, but it is a vital component of everyone’s body. All this and more is established with the evidence in this book that exposes a hoax that still influences the choices we make. Dr. David Perlmutter, MD, hailed this book saying the author “reveals the disturbing underpinnings of the profoundly misguided dietary recommendations that have permeated modern society, culminating in our overall health decline.” Frankly, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I1Vx-eA2QSQ/U_dxPv1sNJI/AAAAAAAAOlM/jBHpCmMayCk/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BDoctored.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I1Vx-eA2QSQ/U_dxPv1sNJI/AAAAAAAAOlM/jBHpCmMayCk/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BDoctored.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you want to understand how Obamacare has destroyed the best health system in the world, you should read Sandeep Jauhar’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician </b>($26.00, Farrar, Straus and Giroux). In the wake of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Dr. Jauhar reports on the deep loss of morale among physicians today who cannot practice medicine in the way they would prefer because they are forced to see many more patients for far less time than they want because they are paid far less than in the past. They have to practice a defensive, self-protective kind of medicine because of malpractice suits. A single patient might see fifteen specialists in a single hospital stay. The sharp downturn in payments to physicians and hospitals has forced them to devote less time to patients. “There is no more wasteful entity in medicine than a rushed doctor,” says the author of this profoundly revealing and disturbing book. It should be read by every member of Congress, but it is a message to all Americans that Obamacare should be repealed. Another book provides an insight to the problems encountered by those seeking treatment. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Misdiagnosed: One Woman’s Tour of—and Escape from—Healthcareland </b>by Jody Berger ($14.00, Sourcebooks, softcover) is her story of having doubted the advice offered by the physicians she consulted after being told she had multiple sclerosis when in fact she had a sensitivity to gluten. One question, “What are you eating?” unlocked the truth of minor tingling sensations she had in her hands and feet. Berger, a journalist and marathoner, was skeptical of her treatment options and the diagnosis and, after a year dealing with physicians, she found one who examined her entire medical history and provided a completely different conclusion. This book is well worth reading in an era in which physicians, thanks to Obamacare, are forced to see many more patients in order to make a living.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For anyone who is concerned about the role of money in politics, there is no doubt cause when a candidate for President must raise a billion dollars and a Senate candidate must raise at least ten million. Much of that money comes from corporations and the impact of it is addressed in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Capitalism v. Democracy: Money in Politics and the Free Market Constitution</b> by Timothy K. Kuhner ($90.00/$27.00, Stanford University Press). Yes, the book comes with a hefty price tag, but so does our government these days. Kuhner is an associate professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law who lectures here and abroad. “European audiences can’t believe that the U.S. Supreme Court has issued official state justifications for an unregulated open political market, the sovereignty of donors and spenders, and the demise of political equality.” The relationship of money and politics, along with the rights of corporations in our constitutional democracy is vigorously examined in this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Advice<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you have a problem in any aspect of your life, I guarantee you that there’s a book out there to help you solve it. Here are a few that have recently arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Power of Positive Confrontation</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> by Barbara Pachter with Susan Magee ($16.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) is subtitled “The skills you need to handle conflicts at work, at home, online, and in life.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>As the author points out, there’s always someone out there who is annoying you in some fashion, failing to show respect or courtesy. It’s tempting to respond by expressing your anger or just bottling up your frustration and ignoring the person, but as the author notes, that doesn’t solve anything. This book is being issued for its 15<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>anniversary which means it has been around a long time, successfully providing a practical guide to interpersonal problem-solving. It is filled with good advice, starting with how you handle yourself and what kind of confrontational style you employ or avoid. Being polite and powerful is the essence of this books message, but mostly how to avoid the common problem of dealing with others who think they don’t have to show you the respect you should receive.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Do you ever feel stuck in a monotonous life built around a routine? Many do and Jamie George was one of them. He was a reluctant pastor in a downward spiraling marriage and he was finding it difficult to look past his circumstances and really embrace life. If this describes you in some respect then the good news is that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Love Well: Living Life Unrehearsed and Unstuck</b> may just be the book for you ($14.99, David Cook, softcover). It will help if you are Christian and have a sense of the spiritual in your life, but the book shares many deeply personal stories on the author’s journey from being stuck to his new life based on forming meaningful, deep relationships, and living a life of purpose. Today George is the pastor of The Journey Church in Franklin, Tennessee which he founded in 2006 as a safe haven for artists and the “religiously wounded.” Stuck? Read this book!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bqKUVxR69go/U_dxpagKRzI/AAAAAAAAOlU/Bk15oUTmGLA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BMessy%2BBeautiful%2BLove.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bqKUVxR69go/U_dxpagKRzI/AAAAAAAAOlU/Bk15oUTmGLA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BMessy%2BBeautiful%2BLove.png" height="200" width="131" /></a></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Messy Beautiful Love </b>by Darlene Schacht ($15.99, Thomas Nelson, softcover) addresses the problems that marriages face such as financial problems, sickness, aging parents, and a chronically unhappy spouse. In a world where divorce is a family word and marriage is simply tossed aside, many women are asking, “Is there hope for my marriage?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The author, married for more than 25 years, understands the temptations and struggles many women face and, coming from a place of brokenness, grace, and redemption, she candidly shares her personal testimony of infidelity and a message of hope with a guide through Scripture. It helps to have a spiritual orientation to benefit from this book.<o:p></o:p></span><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Were you a fan of Gilligan’s Island, the TV show that debuted in 1964 and is still being seen in reruns by whole new generations? One of its characters was Mary Ann Summers, a sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice Midwest girl played by Dawn Wells. She was the good girl stranded with the other characters on an island. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What Would Mary Ann Do? A Guide to Life </b>Wells makes it clear that good girls can and do finish first ($16.95, Taylor Publishing, softcover) in a book written with Steve Stinson that is part memoir, part humor, and a dose of classic TV nostalgia. Its twelve chapters exploring everything from how Mary Ann would respond to changes in today’s culture to addressing issues confronting single women and mothers. Dawn found success in the 1960s, appearing in shows such as 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick, Bonanza, and Hawaiian Eye before being cast in Gilligan Island. Since then she has continued acting on the stage and screen, produced films, and been active in a number of charities. Women will find this book worth reading.</span></div><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1HQ_dX6bMSs/VAebLRFAuRI/AAAAAAAAOsM/uJDMSiaVVAg/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BDrug-FreeKids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1HQ_dX6bMSs/VAebLRFAuRI/AAAAAAAAOsM/uJDMSiaVVAg/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BDrug-FreeKids.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A major concern of parents is to ensure that their children do not fall into the trap of taking drugs. Joseph A. Califano, Jr., who served Presidents Johnson and Carter, the latter as the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, as written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How To Raise A Drug-Free Kid: The Straight Dope for Parents </b>($15.99, Touchstone, an imprint of Simon &amp; Schuster, softcover). It is a guide to keeping children substance-free through the formative pre-teen, teen, and college years. As the founder of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, this has been a long interest of Califano’s. The book addresses when and how to talk to a child about drugs and alcohol, what circumstances put a child most at risk, how binge drinking and marijuana use threaten the development of a teen’s brain, how to address the glamorization of drinking and drug use on social media, the Internet and in films and on television, including how to find the right program if one’s child needs treatment. Raising a child comes with many challenges and this book will make this one easier to deal with. <o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">Memoirs and Bios</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There is no end to memoirs and biographies, many of which provide information and insight regarding those we admire and others which tell us the stories of people we have never heard of before. </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T2og-1aeeGA/U_dyVq9DsRI/AAAAAAAAOlk/ToYRD5QcSdA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BTennessee%2BWilliams.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T2og-1aeeGA/U_dyVq9DsRI/AAAAAAAAOlk/ToYRD5QcSdA/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BTennessee%2BWilliams.png" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh </b>($37.95, W.W. Norton) one may be inclined to feel that John Lahr has told us more about the legendary playwright than we really want to know. There have been some forty biographies of Williams, but this one plumbs deeply into his sex life, his alcoholism, and the way his warring dysfunctional family and youth informed his greatest plays, “The Glass Menagerie”, “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” that transformed the theatre of his day, all of which were made into films that made him famed to a vast audience. Lahr, a prolific author and a regular contributor to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New Yorker </i>where, for two decades, he was the magazine’s senior drama critic, has penned over 750 pages with footnotes. It is enhanced with nearly one hundred photos. In person, Williams was a difficult person to be around in ways that only someone of his talent and personal traumas can be. I once met him and commented on how much I had enjoyed his book of poetry, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In The Winter of Cities</i>, and he was delighted someone had read it. The biography is a disturbing account of a disturbed and disturbing man. Only someone seeking to know the man behind the dramas will want to read this biography. Men of such talent are often seem more frail, more self-absorbed, and more troubled when their lives are examined in the depth this biography offers. This book is likely to be regarded as William’s most definitive biography and it well deserves to be.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lMYuBa9h60k/U_dykZz46QI/AAAAAAAAOls/ztFt1jyu4ak/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBeatles%2Band%2BMe.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lMYuBa9h60k/U_dykZz46QI/AAAAAAAAOls/ztFt1jyu4ak/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBeatles%2Band%2BMe.png" height="200" width="139" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I doubt there is anyone who has not heard of the Beatles and, for the U.S. their astounding fame began in the summer of 1964. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Beatles and Me on Tour</b> by Ivor Davis ($15.99, Cockney Kid Publishing, softcover) who was the only British newspaper writer invited on the entire tour. Over the course of 34 days and 24 cities, Davis watched them make rock history while enjoying unrestricted access to the four lads from Liverpool, from hotel suites to backstage to their private jet. He waited fifty years to write the book because the years in between were filled with other events that he also witnessed, from the assassination of Robert Kennedy to the Los Angeles Watts riots. In the 1970s he was just as busy covering Angela Davis and Daniel Ellsberg, and other figures of the era. In this book he recounts in frank and amusing fashion the adventures of the now legendary band. Fans of the Beatles will surely enjoy it. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ain’t It Time We Said Goodbye: The Rolling Stones on the Road to Exile </b>by Robert Greenfield ($25.99, Da Capo Press) Written by a former associate editor for Rolling Stone magazine’s London Bureau, who was a mere 25 years old when he followed the most iconic band of the British invasion during their farewell tour of their home country. Watching from the wings from Newcastle to Los Angeles, Greenfield chronicles the group during the ten days before their leave England in tax exile. The story is punctuated by Greenfield’s analysis of the seething tensions between Mick and Keith on the cusp of their heyday. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">He wasn’t President for long before his assassination, but John F. Kennedy did have a many-layered relationship with a fellow mid-20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century leader, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan of Great Britain. Based on previously unquoted papers and private letters between them and their families, Christopher Sandford tells the story of that relationship in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Harold and Jack: The Remarkable Friendship of Prime Minister Macmillan and President Kennedy </b>($25.95, Prometheus Books) which had to deal with Kennedy’s disastrous Bay of Pigs episode in Cuba, the Soviet act of building the Berlin Wall, and serious disagreements over the Skybolt nuclear deterrent, that cause a major rift in US-British relations. Anyone with an interest in history will enjoy this slice of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I frankly had never heard of or read the works of Earle Birney and Al Purdy, two Canadian poets, but their correspondence over forty years from 1947 to 1987 will surely appeal to anyone who enjoys a look at the creative process at work. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">We Go Far Back in Time</b> ($39.95, Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, British Columbia) are their letters, edited by Nicholas Bradley, an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Victoria. Purdy is often considered Canada’s “unofficial poet laureate” and Birney was a celebrated poet and novelist who received the Governor General’s Award twice for his poetry. Canadians understandably will find this of greater interest, but these two literary figures also reflect their times in which they lives and the inherent issues of the creative process. Both, however, were incredibly prolific, producing many books. By contrast, no one would know of Susan Blumberg-Kason if she had not written a biographical account of her cross-cultural experience in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong </b>($14.99, Sourcebooks, softcover). The author is an American who had a fascination with China and, while attending graduate school in Hong Kong fell for what she thought was the Chinese man of her dreams. They married and she believed her intercultural marriage would play out like an exotic fairy tale. It quickly turned into a nightmare as she examines the values of marriage and family in contemporary China and America. As her husband Cai Kason becomes increasingly controlling and abusive, the author is forced to forgo her own Midwestern values to save the relationship and protect her newborn son. When Cai threatens to take Jake back to China for good, she has to stand up for herself, her son and their future. I think women in particular will find this book of interest, but anyone interested in current Chinese culture will as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Math and Science<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Prometheus Books is a highly prolific publisher. One of its specialties are books about math and science topics. For those who are interested in these topics, it has four recent books. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It Started with Copernicus: Vital Questions about Science </b>by Keith Parsons ($19.95) tackles questions such as can science meet the challenges of skeptics? Should science address questions traditionally reserved for philosophy and religion? The corruption of science is on the minds of many these days as, for example, we learn of how climatology has been used to advance the global warming/climate change agenda when, in fact, the Earth has been in a cooling cycle for seventeen years. This and other examples have troubled scientists. Parsons has written a jargon-free examination of areas such as evolutionary theory, paleontology, and astronomy, and others that have generated controversies. </span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3ujU3MN2B6I/U_dy4Jv7TGI/AAAAAAAAOl0/IktXY4SsClo/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BChemistry%2Bof%2BAlchemy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3ujU3MN2B6I/U_dy4Jv7TGI/AAAAAAAAOl0/IktXY4SsClo/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BChemistry%2Bof%2BAlchemy.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a></div>Those interested in the history of science will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Chemistry of Alchemy: From Dragon’s Blood to Donkey Dung, How Chemistry was Forged </b>($24.95) by Cathy Cobb, Monty Fetterolf, and Harold Goldwhite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>These three veteran chemists show that the alchemist’s quest—often to turn ordinary metals into gold—involved real science and recounts the stories of the sages who performed strange experiments by separating and purifying materials by fire to reconstitute them. Despite their objectives, by trial, by design, and by persistence, the alchemists discovered acids, alkalis, alcohols, salts and other elements. It is a fascinating story. <o:p></o:p></span><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Lovers of math will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mathematical Curiousities: A Treasure Trove of Unexpected Entertainments </b>by Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann ($19.95, softcover) who demonstrate that math can be enjoyable as well as an important skill on which much depends. Exploring our galaxy has been a quest that goes back to early scientists. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Curiousity: An Inside Look at the Mars Rover Mission and the People Who Made It Happen </b>by Rod Pyle (19.95, softcover) is a behind-the-scenes look at the recent mission of Curiousity, the unmanned rover whose journey of discovery is providing researchers with unprecedented information about Mars. The author provides stunning insights into how the enthusiastic team of diverse individuals uses a revolutionary onboard laboratory of chemistry, geology, and physics instruments to unravel the secrets of the red planet. The story of the most advanced machine ever sent to another planet makes for fascinating reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Urrq7gmxc60/U_dzIKbExuI/AAAAAAAAOl8/c4pRG7vWr7I/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BGrandma%2C%2BAren't%2BYou%2BGlad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Urrq7gmxc60/U_dzIKbExuI/AAAAAAAAOl8/c4pRG7vWr7I/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BGrandma%2C%2BAren't%2BYou%2BGlad.jpg" height="154" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By far one of the most unique and entertaining books for young readers age four and up is Lori Scott Stewart’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Grandma, Aren’t You Glad the World’s Finally in Color Today! </b>($19.95, Palmar Press), but it is really for all the generations from grandparents, parents, and grandchildren. Told in rhyming verse, it is a tribute to those generations who came well before the technology today’s kids take for granted and tells the story, replete with black-and-white photos on pages facing those filled with color photos, of how those earlier generations lived through events that preceded and included the Great Depression and World War Two, before television, air conditioning, computers and all of the conveniences of our times. I had the pleasure of recommending Ms. Stewart’s debut book, “If I Had as Many Grandchildren as You” that went on to receive a 2013 Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award and Family Choice Awards. This book is sure to win a lot of award as well. It is a delight to the eye, the ear, and the soul as it takes one from those early photos to those that capture the world in full color today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As the school year begins many parents encounter a child who is afraid to go and Ylleya Fields has written a clever book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Princess Cupcake Won’t Go to School </b>delightfully illustrated by Michael LaDuca ($15.95, Belle Publshing, Cleveland, OH). Young readers, age 5 to 7, will enjoy the many excuses Cupcake makes to avoid that first day of school and recognize them if they have tried them out. In the end, Cupcake does go and discovers that school is a place to make new friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KttaBlxqL-I/U_dzVBZN1sI/AAAAAAAAOmE/PsnTauMdftY/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BFootball%2BThen%2Band%2BNow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KttaBlxqL-I/U_dzVBZN1sI/AAAAAAAAOmE/PsnTauMdftY/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BFootball%2BThen%2Band%2BNow.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">It’s football season and a great way to combine encouraging one’s children to be active in some sport and to enjoy, in this case, football, is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sports Illustrated for Kids “Football—Then to Wow! </b>($19.95, Time Home Entertainment) which has the added benefit of encouraging them to read. Telling the history of the game that was born in 1869, it takes the younger readers, ages 10 and up, on a journey through time, explaining how the game developed—such as the way the shape of the ball came to be the one we recognize today, how protective shoulder pads were introduced as well as the history of helmets, the building of stadiums for the game, and tons of information about its legendary players in various positions. There’s much more and by the time the reader gets to the end of this book, they will be a football whiz, enjoying it on a level well above others. Also from Sports Illustrated for Kids is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What Are the Chances? The Wildest Plays in Sports </b>($14.95, Time Home Entertainment). It will be a big hit with any younger reader who is into sports and, typical of the SI books, it is extensively illustrated and has a lively text devoted to the rare achievements by stars as they scored points to save a game, threw or caught a ball that decided the outcome, The sports highlighted are baseball, football, and basketball. Christmas is not that far off, so if you have a youngster that loves these sports, you might want to put this one on the gift list.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I’m of a mixed mind about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir</b> by Liz Prince ($15.99, Zest Books, softcover). Growing up, Liz Prince was a tomboy and she tells the story of her transition to recognizing what it meant to be female, doing so with humor, honesty, poignancy and a straight forward account of the physical and emotional changes that occurred as she matured. She goes from a girl who hated dresses, preferred boys clothes and being with them. Her teen years would change that and, being a graphic novel, each page is like a comic strip rather than just text. For young girls who share her early preferences, this will be a useful book as they too must make adjustments in adolescence. This is a “graphic” book as well in the language it employs and sensitive topics it addresses. Hence my concern.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels</span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O3aHMykrrcI/U_dzgj4tZNI/AAAAAAAAOmM/Qc4yVN8KWqY/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BEdge%2Bof%2BEternity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O3aHMykrrcI/U_dzgj4tZNI/AAAAAAAAOmM/Qc4yVN8KWqY/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BEdge%2Bof%2BEternity.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Fans of the internationally bestselling novelist Ken Follett who have been waiting for the third book in his “century trilogy” will be pleased to know that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Edge of Eternity </b>($36.00, Dutton) is now available. In 2010 he embarked on an ambitious project, a historical epic that spans the twentieth century. It began with “Fall of Giants” which was followed by “Winter of the World in 2012.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The trilogy follows the fortunes of five intertwined families—American, German, Russian, English and Welsh—as they make their way through the upheavals of the twentieth century. Each book follows the next generation. The new novel covers the tumultuous era of the 1960s through to today, taking in civil rights, the Vietnam War, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK’s assassination, presidential impeachment, revolution, and rock and roll. The copy I received was 1,098 pages! So prepare yourself for a lengthy, but fascinating reading experience. Follett’s trilogy is a real achievement, capturing the last century in a way that people can relate to through the lives of the characters.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7PrGYeC9LfU/U_dzu9YdtOI/AAAAAAAAOmU/gFRMsaWD1s0/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHour%2Bof%2BLead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7PrGYeC9LfU/U_dzu9YdtOI/AAAAAAAAOmU/gFRMsaWD1s0/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BHour%2Bof%2BLead.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">An interesting novel by Bruce Holbert, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Hour of Lead</b>, ($25.00, Counterpoint Press) follows his 2012 novel, “Lonesome Animals”, which was named the Best Book of the Year by both the Seattle Times and Slate. This one is set in the scabland farms and desert brush of Eastern Washington. The story follows Matt Lawson, a 14-year-old boy who is forced to take over his family’s ranch after losing both his twin brother and father in the great snowstorm of 1918. His mother disappears into grief and drinking the local moonshine and Matt realizes that he is on his own. The work gives him some relief from his feelings of loneliness, but when his relationship with Wendy, the daughter of a local grocer, goes sour, Matt sets out on a journey across the nation by way of finding himself. His mother opens her ranch home to Wendy, a local widowed teacher, and her bastard son, Lucky. It takes decades for Matt to return and his long journey will forever change the life of those around him. Stan Yocum always wanted to be a writer, but he took off 30 years to be a businessman. Now, though, he is establishing himself as a writer of indie-suspense novels and his latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unrelenting Nightmare </b>($20.95, iUniverse) that follows Stuart Garrison, a virtual reality software developer on the cusp of industry domination, as he navigates a deadly cat-and-mouse game with an international assassin hired by his fierce competitor. Garrison must outwit the killer at the same time he is releasing the new technology to the world. You will be hard pressed to put this novel down as it explores the prevalence of violence and the impact of virtual reality on youth. <o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In no particular order there are three novels that offer entertainment. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Legend of Sheba: Rise of a Queen</b> by Tosca Lee ($23.00, Howard Books, a division of Simon &amp; Schuster) retells a torrid love affair and the after-effects between two of the most famous monarchs in history. Based on extensive research into the life and times of Makeda, the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, the novel reflects one of biblical history’s most unknown tales and brings the world of ancient Israel to life. In the 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century BC, the Queen has inherited her father’s throne and all its riches at great personal cost. Her realm stretches west across the Red Sea, but it is new alliances to the north that threaten the trade routes which are the lifeblood of her nation. Solomon is the brash new king of Israel, already famed for his wealth and wisdom. The Queen must test and win his support, but neither rule has anticipated the clash of agendas and passion that threatens to ignore and ruin them both.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lZsF5drGDV0/U_d0AViO0ZI/AAAAAAAAOmc/xs8WayIPYUU/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BWishing%2BTide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lZsF5drGDV0/U_d0AViO0ZI/AAAAAAAAOmc/xs8WayIPYUU/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BThe%2BWishing%2BTide.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>Fast forward to present times and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Wishing Tide </b>by Barbara Davis ($15.00, NAL Accent, the Penguin Group, softcover). This is her second novel and the author lives in North Carolina, the setting for the story of Lane Kramer who moved to Starry Point, North Carolina, with the hopes that the quaint island village might be a perfect place to start fresh. She is now the owner of a charming seaside inn, having put aside her hopes of being a novelist and finding love again. When an English professor, Michael Forester appears on her doorstep in the middle of a storm, his familiarity with the island has her wondering if he is quite what he appears. Meanwhile, she has developed a friendship with an older woman who possesses a special brand of wisdom, but a fragile mind with a tenuous grip on reality. Put the three together and a decades-old secret, stir vigorously, and you have an interesting story. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Seventh Street Books has four softcover novels to offer, all available as ebooks as well. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Sun is God</b> by Adrian McKinty ($15.99) involves a small group of mostly German nudists living an extreme back-to-nature existence, worshipping the sun on the remote island of Kabakon. When one of their members, Max Lutzow, dies it is assumed to be from malaria, but an autopsy in the nearby capital of Herbertshohe raises suspicions of foul play. Retired British military police officer Will Prior is recruited to investigate the circumstance of the death and, while the group seems friendly and willing to cooperate, Prior is convinced they are hiding something. The tension grows steadily and the climax is worth waiting for. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cat on a Cold Tin Roof—An Eli Paxton Mystery </b>by Mike Resnick ($15.95) begins as hard luck private investigator, Eli Paxton, is hired to find a missing cat. It is a very important one because its collar is studded with diamonds worth a small fortune. What starts as a routine search of animal shelters soon becomes a perilous journey through a murky underworld. Turns out that the woman who hired Paxton is the wealthy widow of a recently murdered financial adviser with an alias and mobster ties. Eli finds the cat by not the collar. Suffice to say an intricate plot unfolds into a treacherous maze that Eli hopes to survive.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YK9pm9CVw3M/U_d02RgkUsI/AAAAAAAAOmk/Ot_xrT_1Mcs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBlind%2BMoon%2BAlley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YK9pm9CVw3M/U_d02RgkUsI/AAAAAAAAOmk/Ot_xrT_1Mcs/s1600/Cover%2B-%2BBlind%2BMoon%2BAlley.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blind Moon Alley—A Jersey Leo Novel</b> by John Florio ($15.95) takes the reader back to the days of Prohibition. It’s Philadelphia and Jersey Leo doesn’t fit in. He tends bar at a speakeasy the locals call the Ink Well. When his old grade school buddy calls from death row and asks one last favor, all hell breaks loose for Jersey who finds himself running from a band of crooked cops, hiding an escaped convict in the Ink Well, and reuniting with his grammar school crush, the sultry Myra Banks. Intrigued? You will be when you read this delightful novel filled with some great characters. And lastly there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Button Man—A Hugo Marston Novel</b> by Mark Pryor ($15.95) in which a former FBI profiler, Hugo Marston, has just become head of security at the U.S. embassy in London. He’s asked to protect a famous movie-star couple, Dayton Harper and Ginny Ferro who, while filming a movie in rural England, have killed a local man in a hit and run. It is a disaster from the beginning because, before he even meets them, he discovers that Ferro has disappeared and her body has been found hanging from an oak tree in a London cemetery. Hours later, a distraught Harper gives Hugo the slip. Putting the connections together with the help of a cast of characters, he must elude a serial killer after more bodies show up. Yes, it is another suspenseful, well told gripping tale. <o:p></o:p></span><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">That’s It for September<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">Lots of good books, fiction and non-fiction, this month as you can see. With the advent of autumn, the publishing world kicks into a high gear, producing many more. Come back in October and don’t forget to tell your book loving friends, family and coworkers about Bookviews.com where you will find the work of authors who deserve attention.</span></span></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-58743637401306110232014-08-01T05:32:00.000-07:002014-08-04T11:53:46.152-07:00Bookviews - August 2014<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TFgFQ5MPv1Q/U9T4bV5ESyI/AAAAAAAAOV0/bZg0N2Jk9xE/s1600/Cover+-+Greatest+Comeback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TFgFQ5MPv1Q/U9T4bV5ESyI/AAAAAAAAOV0/bZg0N2Jk9xE/s1600/Cover+-+Greatest+Comeback.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of the most interesting new books is Patrick J. Buchanan’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the New Majority </b>($28.00, Crown Forum). A large part of the population today was born after Nixon’s era and, if he is remembered or known for anything by them it is the Watergate scandal that forced his resignation in his second term. Even though I lived through the Nixon years, I knew relatively little about the man and Buchanan who was one of his political team, now a respected commentator and author, provides a fascinating history of a President who was a canny politician, a pragmatic conservative, and a very popular leader in his time. He served from 1969 to 1972, finally bringing the unpopular Vietnam War to an end and opening diplomacy with China. After suffering stinging defeats in the 1960 presidential election against John F. Kennedy and in the 1962 California gubernatorial election, the Washington press and politicians declared his political career over. Yet on January 20, 1969 he took the oath as the 37<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> President. Buchanan’s book tells how he resurrected his reputation and reunited a shattered and fractured Republican Party. The book begins in January 1966 as a firsthand account of Nixon’s remarkable return during a decade marked by civil rights protests, the assassinations of JFK, his brother Robert, and Martin Luther King. I recall the riots, campus anarchy, and the rise of the New Left. Anyone interested in U.S. history will want to read this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QsDeiXKhs6Y/U9T4j3eCqyI/AAAAAAAAOV8/PlGVMmiNFF0/s1600/Cover+-+Behind+the+Curtain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QsDeiXKhs6Y/U9T4j3eCqyI/AAAAAAAAOV8/PlGVMmiNFF0/s1600/Cover+-+Behind+the+Curtain.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Fans of Jay Leno will enjoy Dave Berg’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Behind the Curtain: An Insider’s View of Jay Leno’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tonight Show </i></b>($24.95, Pelican Publishing). Berg was one of the show’s producers, active in booking many of its guests from the world of show business, sports, and politics. For Berg, what was not seen by the viewing audience, the reality of dealing with guests from former presidents, candidates for the job, and even Barack Obama whom he spotted years before he as a national figure, was just as exciting and interesting as how well they performed on air. He makes it clear that he and other producers looked at the “numbers” of how many viewed the night before and how well the guest segments did, play an important role in producing the show. It was in competition with the David Letterman Show and they all wanted to be number one. Leno would in time achieve that goal and hold onto it. Berg provides an entertaining, but generally serious look at a wide range of guests from Jerry Seinfeld to John F. Kennedy, Jr. If you are into celebrities, the book is filled with them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Readers will also discover a different Jay Leno than appeared on camera all those years. The show, other than his marriage and passion for classic cars, was his life from when he woke until he went to bed. He was totally absorbed and devoted to it. His monologues were always entertaining. His comedic talent and his devotion to the show made it a hit. That was quite an achievement considering he was following in the footsteps of Johnny Carson. Despite rubbing elbows by the biggest names of the day, he remained the guy who could have lived next door. In many ways, he was. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Pelican Publishing&nbsp;is based in Gretna, Louisiana and publishes many books that celebrate the state, its cuisine and comparable topics. People who have visited New Orleans are often so taken with its unique architecture, restaurants and other pleasures they return again and again. For them, I recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Let’s Walk the French Quarter: A Visual Tour by Kerri McCaffety </b>($19.95, Pelican, softcover) a photographer and writer who has authored several books about the city. If you have been there, it is a reminder of favorite places and an invitation to visit those you missed. If you have always just wondered what this famed section of the city looks like, you will find it celebrated from Rampart Street to Jackson Square. Little wonder she has received a Gold Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers. It’s a wonderful book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mEG0dqPl97o/U9T4xfmH4GI/AAAAAAAAOWI/VULHCkc4Ccw/s1600/Cover+-+Ripley%2527s+Believe+it+or+Not.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mEG0dqPl97o/U9T4xfmH4GI/AAAAAAAAOWI/VULHCkc4Ccw/s1600/Cover+-+Ripley%2527s+Believe+it+or+Not.png" height="200" width="160" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you are a fan of weirdness, you will love <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Reality Shock! </b>($28.95, Ripley Publishing), a large format collection of items that are a mix of can’t bear to look and can’t look away, jammed packed with images and stories of people such as the wolf-man, Werner Freund, who lives with a pack of wolves or the grandma that has 18-inch long fingernails; they haven’t been cut in 20 years. There are women with scarily tiny waists and a guy who owns 2,000 Barbie and Ken dolls. Every page has something to make you wonder, gasp, or just feast your eyes on the antics and creations of people. This kind of books makes a great gift for the person who “has everything.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">To Your Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I have always enjoyed good health; as my doctor succinctly put it, “Good genes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>That and eating moderately, but well, plus a daily batch of vitamins and minerals to start the day, and getting a good night’s sleep, have served me well over the years. One thing is for sure, there is no end of books on health topics.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QZRZWEFX4js/U9T5SztwfeI/AAAAAAAAOWU/TrEo_Omq-3I/s1600/Cover+-+losing-patience.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QZRZWEFX4js/U9T5SztwfeI/AAAAAAAAOWU/TrEo_Omq-3I/s1600/Cover+-+losing-patience.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One unusual book that arrived is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Losing Patience: The Problems, Alarms and Psychological Issues of Shaken Baby Syndrome </b>by James Peinkofer ($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover), a child abuse consultant with more than 18 years of experience in medical and mental health clinical social work. It only takes two or three violent shakes in as little as five seconds, by an angry parent or caregiver to punish or quiet a crying child to inflict a lot of harm. The author says that it is the leading cause of abuse-related deaths among infants with as high as 80% of survivors suffering permanent brain damage. If there are expectant parents in your family in which one or both have anger management problems—a bad temper—this would be a good book to give them. It also offers good advice as to what to look for in a perspective caregiver and what a family should do if they suspect shaken baby syndrome. Consider the harm that can be done to an infant this is a book that should receive wider media coverage. It’s due off the press in October.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A strong, healthy heart should surely be a priority and Joe Petreycik, RN, an ASCM certified clinical exercise specialist, has spent the last six years writing a book that helps those who have had a heart attack and those trying to avoid it. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pump It Up! Exercising Your Heart to Health </b>($19.95, Take Exercise to Heart, LCC, Stratford, CT, softcover) According to the World Health Organization, 17.3 million people die from heart attacks and strokes every year. Illustrated with dozens of photographs to illustrate the exercises that Petreycik recommends, anyone with concerns in this area will surely benefit from reading this book. If you come from a family with a history of heart attacks and strokes, order it today!<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Useful Advice <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Got a problem? There are many books filled with advice on how to solve it. Here are four new ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KegFpdZzBaw/U9T5DD5SdYI/AAAAAAAAOWQ/I4qW1WZz5bw/s1600/Cover+-+Parenting+on+the+Go.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KegFpdZzBaw/U9T5DD5SdYI/AAAAAAAAOWQ/I4qW1WZz5bw/s1600/Cover+-+Parenting+on+the+Go.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Parenting on the Go: Birth to Six, A to Z </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Dr. David Elkind, PhD ($14.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) covers a wide range of subjects and offers solutions to run-of-the-mill concerns as well as the more multifaceted issues, like the right amount of computer times, that are pertinent to today’s information-age parents. Drawing on his extensive experience in child psychology and development, as well as the most up-to-date research on parenting, Dr. Elkind gives 500-word answers to more than a hundred of the most common questions parents ask. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting a Life with Asperger’s: Lessons Learned on the Bumpy Road to Adulthood </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Jesse A. Saperstein ($15.00, Perigee, softcover) is a useful book even if you or someone you know has been diagnosed with Asperger’s, a disorder that interferes with being able to pick up the clues that other people’s behavior that most of us easily read. It is an aspect of autism. “Growing up and becoming a reasonably functioning adult is difficult in the best of circumstances,” says Saperstein, but those with Asperger’s encounter greater problems. Studies show that between 80% and 90% are chronically unemployed because they miss the social clues and sometimes exhibit inappropriate behavior. The book is a self-help guide filled with good advice on dealing with family, romance, college, job interviews, and the crippling baggage of being bullied. Filled with wit and self-deprecating humor, it will help anyone live a “normal” life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Put More Time on Your Side: How to Manage Your Life in a Digital World </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Jan Yager, Ph.D, ($20.95, Hannacroix Creek Press, softcover) is her fifth book about productivity, among her 39 to date. This one is for anyone who wants to get more done in less time. It is full of good advice on topics such as coping with time wasters like over-scheduling, procrastination or perfectionism. There’s advice on how to master office relationships and politics to save time, and lots more. Time is our most valuable resource and knowing how to get the most out of it in business and at home&nbsp;is why&nbsp;this book is&nbsp;worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Master Your Money in 7 Days </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Dale Gibbons ($11.69, softcover) will be a big help to anyone encountering money problems these days and that’s just about everyone. It is an easy to read book that reveals the secrets of simply money management that you can learn more about at </span><a href="http://www.masteryourmoneybook.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.masteryourmoneybook.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">. Do you run out of money before the end of the month? Worry how to afford the important things for your family? Have an overdrawn account? This is about getting the control you need to put your financial life on a smooth path. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Books for Kids and Teens<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of the best things you can do for your kids this summer is to provide them with interesting and entertaining books to read. Good reading skills and habits are essential to their success later in life. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For the very young, early readers, there are books from the We Do Listen Foundation featuring Howard B. Wigglesworth, a rabbit character, and the 14<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>in its series is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns We Can All Get Along </b>($15.00) aimed at those aged 4 to 8 with a message on how to live in harmony with everyone around them. Howard begins to learn why always wanting his own way is a sure fire way to not make friends. The text is an easy read and the illustrations are delightful. The series has many such books to help learning good attitudes.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l2BfOyeTt_Q/U9T5r_F78PI/AAAAAAAAOWg/t43oOH3AWIw/s1600/Cover+-+Stewie+Boonstein+Starts+School.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l2BfOyeTt_Q/U9T5r_F78PI/AAAAAAAAOWg/t43oOH3AWIw/s1600/Cover+-+Stewie+Boonstein+Starts+School.jpg" height="199" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another book that addresses this is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stewie Boomstein Starts School </b>by Christine Bronstein and illustrated by Karen Young ($28.99/$9.99, hard and softcover, @ </span><a href="http://www.nothingbutthetruth.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.NothingButTheTruth.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">) for kids aged 3 to 6.&nbsp;Stewie has a very bad first day at school because he doesn’t like following rules and wants to do what he wants, not what the teachers does. Another problem kids encounter in school is bullying and Laura S. Fox’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stan the Timid Turtle: Helping Children Cope with Fears About School Violence </b>($9.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) for those in the early school grades. Many children have many fears about a world the TV demonstrates is filled with violence. This book will help them deal with those fears and Stan the turtle becomes fearful when a violent event happens at a nearby school and several young turtles are hurt. With help, he learns it is okay to be afraid, but not to let fear rule his life. Another new book from this publisher is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Siggy’s Parade: Helping Kids with Disabilities Find Their Strength </b>by Blanche R. Duddly, EdD ($9.95, softcover) about Siggy, a mockingbird who only has one wing and who rallies his friend to celebrate and appreciate their unique disabilities. Written for those in the early school grades, it is upbeat and delightful. Using the alphabet, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Keeping Fit from A to Z </b>by Stephanie Maze ($15.95, Moonstone Press) is due out next month and is unique in that it provides its text for the very young reader, age 3 and up, in both English and Spanish. Extensively illustrated with many color photos, it will teach them the importance of getting out and engaging in sports and other activities. This is an early encouragement to not sit in from of the television or just play video games. It’s a very good investment in one’s child’s health.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--fv0EnxEpik/U9T6UPxJ_1I/AAAAAAAAOWk/6kt1dziRu4c/s1600/Cover+-+Snakeopedia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--fv0EnxEpik/U9T6UPxJ_1I/AAAAAAAAOWk/6kt1dziRu4c/s1600/Cover+-+Snakeopedia.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of the best publishers in Time for Kids which has two wonderful new books out. For ages 7 and up, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Snakeopedia</b>($19.95) that is filled with 180 full color pages with 400 photos, images and facts from Discovery experts and a herpetologist that combines fun for young readers, many of whom find snakes fascinating. They can read about the twelve families of snakes as well as other members of the reptile family such as lizards, turtles, and crocodiles. In his youth my older brother was permitted to have a black snake as a pet and it was a great learning experience for both of us. Also just published is Time for Kids’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Robots </b>($14.95) that is filled with photos and a great text that teaches how robots are having an increasing role in the way we all live, from helpers to robo cops. From their early history to the robots we have sent to explore Mars, this one will keep any young reader turning the pages and returning to enjoy it again and again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Mother was not just a great cook, but she taught gourmet cooking for three decades in the adult schools of our hometown and others. Learning how to cook is a great skills to have and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Green Teen Cookbook: Recipes for all Seasons – Written by Teens, for Teens </b>($14.95, Zest Books, softcover) by Laurane Marchive and Pam McElroy is filled with advice on how to navigate the kitchen and other skills involved with cooking such as shopping on a budget and eating healthier. It has more than 70 recipes and cooking is something every young person should learn. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting pre-teens and teens to turn off the television and discover the pleasure of a good story is well served by several need books written for this age group. A young-adult fantasy novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Adventures of Horace, George and Ingle—The Rise of the Black knight </b>by Hugh Cumming (FriesenPress.com) is available as a hardcover, softcover, and ebook. Three brothers aged 15-17 are growing up in relative calm in a land once dominated by great battles in a kingdom that stretches as far as the eye can see. When a raging storm causes fires in their village, King Reynold makes the unusual choice to appoint his son, Ingle, to assit in the investigate the scene of the fires. It addresses the bond of siblings, the challenges of coming of age and dealing with unforeseen complexities of the adult world, and the age-old battle between good and evil. Another novel also uses fantasy and science fiction. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flight of the Akero: The Book of Milo</b> (Bablefish Press, softcover) is by Douglas Lieblein, a writer and producer for Universal, Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers, The Disney Channel, and Nickelodean. It is book one in a series, a fiction tale that is comic, action-packet, and quirky. Milo Wolfe is the tallest third grader at his school but his problem is that he has been put in sixth grade where he is the shortest, weakest, wimpiest and by far the least popular student. Looking forward to no school, Milo wants to do as little as possible, but he is forced to embark on an unexpected journal to find a father he’s never met. It is filled with surprises.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p4e5JQEjG4I/U9T6uCmcIRI/AAAAAAAAOWw/KeyOwyJHQQI/s1600/Cover+-+Age+of+Amy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p4e5JQEjG4I/U9T6uCmcIRI/AAAAAAAAOWw/KeyOwyJHQQI/s1600/Cover+-+Age+of+Amy.png" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another new fantasy-adventure story for young adults is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Age of Amy: The Thumper Amendment</b> by Bruce Edwards ($9.95, Lambert Hill, softcover) as 16-year-old Amy wants to avenge the sixth grade boy who mistreated her in third grade. She gets her change when she encounters him seven years later during a U.S. presidential campaign for a candidate she supports. But there’s a problem. He has grown into a kindhearted (and cute) young adult and her feelings turn to those of affection. Is she falling in love with her grade school nemesis? This is an intriguing story that is well worth reading. Lastly, for those 12 and up there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Billy Christmas </b>by Mark A. Pritchard ($16.95, Alan Squire Publishing, softcover) that begins when Billy’s father mysteriously disappears. Then, just twelve days before Christmas, Billy acquires a magical Christmas tree with a dozen ornaments, each of which supposedly holds a clue to finding his father. In order to do so, however, Billy must solve one puzzle a day. This is a young adult fantasy with rich, compelling characters and delightful twists and turns that will keep readers guessing until the end, as he and his best friend—and secret crush—Katherine are thrust into a dark, magical world, that has placed them both in grave danger. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LPHHkLdSCZg/U9T6-zFm9II/AAAAAAAAOW0/quDP_6PaNao/s1600/Cover+-+Torn+Blood.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LPHHkLdSCZg/U9T6-zFm9II/AAAAAAAAOW0/quDP_6PaNao/s1600/Cover+-+Torn+Blood.png" height="200" width="113" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As Israel defends itself against the terrorist organization, Hamas, attention has been fixed on its invasion of Gaza, an area that Israel gave the Palestinians in 2005 after evicting 8,000 of its own citizens that lived there. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Torn Blood </b>by David J. Bain ($17,99, Bo Iti Press, Wyoming) is the result of seven years research and depicts the mortal battle to destroy Jerusalem’s Jewish residents and the right of Jews to their ancient homeland. It does so in a fashion that fans of Tom Clancy’s novels will enjoy because it is an action-packed adventure filled with suspense. This is an ideal summer reading experience as he draws the reader into a story that captures the reader’s minds and hearts as the ultimate fate of Jerusalem and her people reveals itself in an apocalyptic conflagration. This is Bain’s debut novel and I heartily recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Political corruption is the theme of William Lashner’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bagman </b>($14.95, Thomas &amp; Mercer, softcover). Lashner is primarily known for his series of legal thrillers featuring Philadelphia attorney Victor Carl and in this compelling story Carl finds himself working as a bagman for an ambitious congressman. It seems like he might finally be on a trajectory to the top as he traverses the streets of Philadelphia and finds himself associating with the city’s elite, filing his coffers with new-client retainers, and involved with the congressman’s sexy and highly unstable sister. Things become complicated when he becomes the fall guy for murder. With the police, reporters, and a couple of thugs on his trail, Carl turns to a shadowy group of old-time bagmen to find answers and, with their help, he follows the truth—and the money—to a final confrontation with the ultimate symbol of wealth, power, and entitlement known as the Big Butter. It’s a fast-paced, darkly humorous thriller, ideal for a day at the beach.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qA2GKBr7hHk/U9T7NJuM21I/AAAAAAAAOXA/Y1tuiMN4cKQ/s1600/Cover+-+Gideon%2527s+Confession.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qA2GKBr7hHk/U9T7NJuM21I/AAAAAAAAOXA/Y1tuiMN4cKQ/s1600/Cover+-+Gideon%2527s+Confession.jpg" height="200" width="124" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gideon’s Confession </b>Joseph G. Peterson ($15.95, Switchgrass Books, softcover) enhances his reputation as a novelist as he addresses the themes of money, work, success, and the way a young man drifts through life, alienated from his father and two brothers who have gone into the family business. It is his good fortunate that he receives checks from his rich uncle every month and, in exchange, the uncle asks him to come up with a plan for his life, but Gideon Anderson puts that off, spending the money on alcohol, horserace gambling, and useless purchases. His luck continues when he meets a lovely, ambitious woman, Claire, who encourages him to do more with his life and asks him to come to New York with her where her father can set him up in his firm and bankroll a business venture. Gideon’s failure to commit to anything and anyone is at the heart of the novel, one that twenty-somethings in particular should read. At the other end of life, D.D. Lanz addresses what occurs when one dies in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Going, Going, Gone </b>($15.95, Two Harbors, softcover) when John Janne is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He makes plans to end his life before the cancer does. The novel taps into humanity’s universal fear of death and the unknown that follows. Not wanting to have his family watch him die slowly and painfully, he plans a canoe trip in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters where a death by drowning will look like an accident. Before the trip, however, he spends countless hours reading about how different religions and cultures envision the afterlife, but it leaves him confused and uncertain as to whether God or an afterlife even exists. The trip opens his eyes and anyone interested in world religions will find this novel very interesting.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Heaven Sent Rain </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Lauraine Snelling ($15.00, Faith Words, softcover) will appeal to women with its story of scientists Dinah Taylor, the CEO of a successful pharmaceutical company. She likes her orderly existence, enjoying her work and her luxury apartment, but one day she encounters Jonah Morgan, a seven-year-old, for whom she buys breakfast. Along with his dog, “Mutt”, they become part of her routine as she becomes the mysterious boy’s main source of refuge. When she gets a call from Jonah asking her to rush his badly injured pet to a clinic run by a handsome veterinarian, Garett Miller, their lives begin to collide and their relationship changes. Snelling is a bestselling author of more than sixty-five books and this latest one is an intriguing look at how people affect one another in ways they don’t anticipate. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7DlpetXixsU/U9T7gZZzyFI/AAAAAAAAOXE/PNAdvPSMA94/s1600/Cover+-+Finding+Flipper+Frank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7DlpetXixsU/U9T7gZZzyFI/AAAAAAAAOXE/PNAdvPSMA94/s1600/Cover+-+Finding+Flipper+Frank.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Finding Flipper Frank </b>by Patrick M. Gary ($9.95, Kendric Books, softcover) tells of Walt Honerman who has just about given up on life in Billings, Montana at age 38, but who embarks on a trip to fulfill a promise made to a dying uncle. Along for the trip is 76-year-old Izzy Dunleavy, a loquacious nursing home resident and Moira Kelly, a young woman who befriended Izzy during his hospitalization. Izzy entertains them with stories about a grand resort he once owned in Crawfish Bay, but when they arrive there, he is arrested on a decades-old embezzlement charge, I don’t want to give away too much about the unraveling of truth and fiction Walter and Moira encounter because it is the heart of this entertaining novel that has a lot to say about the human condition with its flaws and hopes. It is a very good read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jFTO9Da7FBY/U9T73DusHLI/AAAAAAAAOXM/EhvTkJMgAwk/s1600/Cover+-+Sweet+Spot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jFTO9Da7FBY/U9T73DusHLI/AAAAAAAAOXM/EhvTkJMgAwk/s1600/Cover+-+Sweet+Spot.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Last summer readers were treated to Stephanie Evanovich’s bestselling debut novel, “Big Girl Panties”, and she is back with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Sweet Spot </b>($26.99, William Morrow) featuring two of the characters from that novel, Chase Walker, the hunky professional baseball player and his beautiful and exceptionally sassy wife, Amanda. She is a successful levelheaded woman who built her restaurant from scratch. She was not looking for prince charming and when Chase begins to pursue her she pays little attention. She’s used to celebrities and politicians doing at her place, but she just can’t stop staring at Chase and the feeling is mutual. For Amanda their romance is too good to be true, but he has a little kink to his personality. He likes to indulge in a little passionate spanking from time to time. When a tabloid reveals their relationship she must decide whether to give up her single-girl freedom or will Chase’s stardom spell doom for this sexy couple? You will have to read this novel to find out!<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those of a classical turn of mind, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Medea</b>by Richard Matturo ($32.00, Livingston Press, University of West Alabama) which is set in Bronze Age Greece. The myth is told in the form of a modern novel, eliminating none of the passion or violence as Medeo, an awkward, introverted daughter of a royal family, growing up in a remote backwater of the Greek world encounters the dashing and feckless Jason, offering an escape from her stifling life. She bears him twin sons and then watches as he falls out of love with her. His announcement that she will be exiled, minus her two boys, so that he can marry the king’s daughter brings on the final catastrophe. Matturo holds a doctorate in English with a specialization in Shakespeare and Greek Mythology. This is his sixth novel. Strong emotional ties is the theme of Jerry Pinto’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Em and the Big Hoom</b> ($16.00, Penguin Original, softcover), originally published by a small press in India, Pinto’s debut novel is suffused with compassion, humor, and hard-won wisdom as he introduces us to Imelda and Augustine whose young narrator calls “Em” and the “Big Hoom.” Most of the time Em smokes “breedis” and sings her way through life, inspiring the love of her husband and children, the narrator and his older sister. However, Em suffers bipolar disorder and when it seizes her she becomes monstrous. The novel charts the ten-year courtship of his parents in the 1960s in Bombay to their efforts to come to terms with the desolation she leaves in her wake. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for August. Come back next month to enjoy Bookviews’ blend of news about many new fiction and non-fiction books. Tell your book-loving friends, family and co-workers about this unique monthly report. </span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-6990974793225708922014-07-01T05:24:00.000-07:002014-07-08T13:08:29.894-07:00Bookviews - July 2014<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month</span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3OnIGboOT4U/U7BCjQbT5MI/AAAAAAAAOJc/O22aDETM4vg/s1600/Cover+-+Fracking+Truth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3OnIGboOT4U/U7BCjQbT5MI/AAAAAAAAOJc/O22aDETM4vg/s1600/Cover+-+Fracking+Truth.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I have written about energy issues for decades and yet <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fracking Truth </b>by Chris Faulkner ($21.95, Platform Press) was so filled with hard data and informed opinion that I found myself being educated all over again on what is likely the most important factor of life in America and around the world, the provision of affordable energy. What I have known prior to reading this book is that “fracking”, the short term for hydraulic fracturing, has widespread opposition by some environmental groups and others who have bought into the lies being told about a technology that is over a half century in use and which has unlocked America’s vast reserves of natural gas and oil to transform our prospects for being energy independent as well as a major exporter, generating needed revenue for a nation $17 trillion in debt. The author is the founder, president and CEO of Breitling Energy Corporation and become over the years a trusted source of information for Washington lawmakers, journalists, and policy analysts from respected think tanks. America is home to people who simply do not like “fossil fuels”, but have no idea how dependent we are upon them, nor that they represent a better life, a stronger economy, and benefits we take for granted, not the least of which is the electricity on which we all depend. This is one of the best books on energy I have read in a while and I recommend you read it too. Learn more by visiting </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.thefrackingtruthbook.com/">http://www.thefrackingtruthbook.com</a></span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8zcB63i-XAA/U7BCwa3tRMI/AAAAAAAAOJk/ODDdfcRxmLA/s1600/Cover+-+Please+Stop+Helping+Us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8zcB63i-XAA/U7BCwa3tRMI/AAAAAAAAOJk/ODDdfcRxmLA/s1600/Cover+-+Please+Stop+Helping+Us.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">June marked the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act and, a year later, the Voting Rights Act. Many Americans, both black and white, felt that the nation had moved on passed the ills of the past and that a bright future of opportunity for Afro-Americans existed. For a relatively small part of the black population that was true, but for too many, it was not. Jason L. Riley, a black member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make it Harder for Blacks to Succeed</b> ($23.99, Encounter Books) and I cannot recommend it highly enough because the statistical data on which it is based clearly demonstrates that, rather than external restrictions as existed prior to 1964, it is black culture combined with government programs that undermine the family structure and diminish the desire to work hard that have proven to be the cause of why so many blacks remain not just unemployed, but unemployable due to a widespread indifference to education and other factors that such as violence that leads to crimes, mostly against other blacks, and extraordinary high rates of incarceration. As is too frequently the case, when one turns to government to solve problems, it fails because only individuals and private groups can effectively address what is happening in the streets and neighborhoods of America.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If often seems that politicians invent issues around which to create laws. Thomas E. Hall, a professor of economics at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, takes a look at “the unintended consequences of public policies” in his book <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Aftermath </b>($24.95/12.99, Cato Institute, hardcover and digital). What emerges is a look at the way ideas that seemed necessary at the time turned out to impact life in America, as often as not for the worse. The result has been the creation of a vast welfare state, organized crime, and a scarcity of jobs for teenagers and the working poor. The creation of the income tax provided a source of money to grow government because politicians cannot wait to spend it. Hall takes a look at the creation of federal income taxes, taxes on cigarettes that generate criminal activity, the minimum wage that increases unemployment for teens, and what occurred as the result of Prohibition which took a constitutional amendment to repeal. The history of the economic impact of these programs is a graphic example of unintended consequences.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fjLLffmWzy4/U7BC-klcHOI/AAAAAAAAOJs/zIPc4WGf8Q4/s1600/Cover+-+Valor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fjLLffmWzy4/U7BC-klcHOI/AAAAAAAAOJs/zIPc4WGf8Q4/s1600/Cover+-+Valor.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The scandal at the Veterans Administration puts the lie to all the talk we hear from politicians about the value they put on the lives of those who put their lives on the line to defend our nation. The VA management problems have been known for years and the current administration is only one among others who have not addressed them. When a government agency gets too big, it is the individual veteran that too often pays the price. That’s why, in part, Mark Lee Greenblatt’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Valor: Unsung Heroes from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front </b>($22.95/$11.99, Rowman &amp; Littlefield, hardcover and ebook) is so timely and so needed at a time the Middle East is in turmoil to remind us of those who volunteered to serve their nation. This book takes you to the battlefield as seen through the eyes of individual soldiers, sailors, and Marines as they faced fearful decisions and overcame enormous odds. They all heroes and we duly honored, but unknown to the public. America has always been blessed with men of this stature and courage. It’s good to read about them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Those who love to read often enjoy exploring the historical aspects of literature and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Truth’s Ragged Edge; The Rise of the American Novel</b> by Philip D. Gura ($16.00, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, softcover) looks at a portion of literary history in America largely overlooked and unknown, but interesting in its own right. A cultural historian, Gura reveals that the American novel has its roots in “the fundamental religiosity of American Life”, an aspect of our history that many try to ignore in the secular present. From the time of the nation’s first novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Power of Sympathy</i> in 1789 to the start of the Civil War in 1860, writers were more interested in serving up tales about morality while nurturing broad cultural shifts from broader social concerns to individualism and from faith in a distant God to faith in oneself. In doing so we are taken back to the worlds of Hawthorne and Melville, along with others who have faded into history. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Money, Money, Money</span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BnYpWC09uyA/U7BDOsCSmKI/AAAAAAAAOJ0/RoTUT4FswaE/s1600/Cover+-+Money+Sucks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BnYpWC09uyA/U7BDOsCSmKI/AAAAAAAAOJ0/RoTUT4FswaE/s1600/Cover+-+Money+Sucks.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Income inequality has become a political theme among Democrats; yet another way to divide Americans, but the fact is that there has always been income inequality and the best way to address it is by encouraging entrepreneurism, creating more jobs, and keeping the economy growing. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Money Sucks: A Memoir on Why Too Much or Too Little Can Ruin You</b> by Michael Baughman ($16.95, Skyhorse Publishing) The author has enjoyed and experienced both wealth and poverty. His book offers words of advice for his college bound grandson as he tries to instill an informed attitude about money and, specifically, the value of money and the way Americans pursue it with vigor. He asks the question, how much is enough?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Happily, it is not filled with boring graphs. Instead it is, as its title says, a memoir in which the author draws on his life and time spent with his grandson to share what he has learned about the pursuit and, ultimately, the value of money as we make our way through our lives. As such, it is a good read for anyone at any stage of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Did the Government Write Your Will? </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Eric Gullotta ($14.99, Gullotta Law Group, softcover) addresses a surprising situation. Half of all Americans with children do not have wills indicating where their money and possessions should go after they die. This allows the government to come in and control it by tying it up in years of legal red tape, and determine what it goes to the point where the deceased’s family might never get what is rightfully theirs. As the author, and attorney and CPA, notes, “When you die without a will or trust, that’s called dying intestate” and that puts the state in which you die in charge of your assets—not you. A California attorney, he focuses on that state’s laws, but the advice put forth in his book applies elsewhere as well. He has written a short book whose advice will ensure that your loved ones and others will receive what you have worked hard to accumulate, not the state in which you die.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Coping, Coping, Coping<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">We spend most of our lives coping with changes, some good, some not. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MLpwUzqimnU/U7LgwJFf9xI/AAAAAAAAOLs/BZNZ3mj2V4M/s1600/CoverFront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MLpwUzqimnU/U7LgwJFf9xI/AAAAAAAAOLs/BZNZ3mj2V4M/s1600/CoverFront.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Jennifer K. Crittenden, the author of “The Discreet Guide for Executive Women”, which I reviewed and liked, has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You, Not I: Exceptional Presence—Through the Eyes of Others</b>, ($12.95, Whistling Rabbit Press, San Diego, CA, softcover). This book is written for women as well and it asks if you’re feeling stuck at work, if you suspect you don’t come across well, but don’t know why, and need to modify your behavior to manage others’ perceptions. Once you gain insight to who you are, how others perceive you, how to successfully fit into various situations, and how to stand out to further your career, you will discover how true the advice the author provides. Best of all, she does not just hand out broad generalizations, getting down to specifics in topics like “Some Really Good Ways to Irritate People”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>and “The Magic of Common Courtesy.” What Ms. Crittenden knows is that many grow up and go out in the work world without having acquired the most basic skills for successful interaction with others. Her book provides what you may have missed along the way. I rate this one as excellent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">According to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cancer Journal</i>, the divorce rate for cancer-stricken wives is approximately 21% as compared to 3% when husbands get ill. When Fiona Finn was five months into her long battle with stage III colon cancer, her husband left her on Father’s Day; leaving her and her three children penniless. What ever happened to the “in sickness and in health” part of the marital vows, eh? She tells her story in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Raw: One Woman’s Journey Through Love, Loss, and Cancer</b> ($15.00, Mind Trip Productions, softcover). She is blessed, not only with a strong character, but also a strong sense of humor, and her aim is to save others from the sense of hopelessness that she endured and conquered. She does not hide the fact that she made some bad decisions along the way, including two failed marriages, but hers is the story of a survivor and one that will help others who encounter cancer. A very helpful book and a challenging one as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Potpourri<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Some books don’t fit into neat categories, so here are a few that deserve attention for just that reason.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UfZWEZnO5FM/U7BEDsi-w6I/AAAAAAAAOKI/UrHm1RHiLR8/s1600/Cover+-+Law+and+Disorder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UfZWEZnO5FM/U7BEDsi-w6I/AAAAAAAAOKI/UrHm1RHiLR8/s1600/Cover+-+Law+and+Disorder.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you are a lawyer or just enjoy reading about the legal system, you will surely enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Law and Disorder: Absurdly Funny Moments from the Courts </b>by Charles M. Sevilla ($14.95, W.W. Norton, softcover). While courtrooms are generally places where all manner of unhappy events or disagreements get sorted out in a serious fashion, they are, as this delightful book relates, places where there are humorous moments. Sevilla is, as you might have guessed, a lawyer and one who is perennially named to the “Best Lawyers in America” list. His friends helped with the book by sending transcripts of those unexpected moments. This book would make a great gift for any lawyer in your life or just to keep handy for a quick laugh.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Wild Connection: What Animal Courtship and Mating Tell Us about Human Relationships</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> by Jennifer L. Verdolin ($18.95/$11.99, Prometheus Books, softcover and ebook) is a reminder that we too are animals like a lot of other species. The author takes a look at a variety of species and provides some interesting connections between the way ours selects mates and the fact that others often demonstrate similar characteristics. Or is it the other way around? Verdolin is an expert in animal behavior and currently a research scientist affiliated with the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center at Duke University. In ten chapters she covers topics such as first impressions and the role they play for us and other species. She writes about the role that size and strength has for the selection of mates in other species as well as our own. Indeed from beginning to end, you will find yourself being both entertained and surprised by the many ways we display behavior that resembles many of the other species with whom we share this planet. From the same publisher comes William E. Burrows’ book about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Asteroid Threat: Defending Our Planet from Deadly Near-Earth Objects </b>($19.95, Prometheus Books). This kind of thing is often the theme of science fiction, but the threat is very real and the explosion of a large meteor over Chelybinsk, Siberia, in February 2013 is just the latest reminder of the Earth’s vulnerability in a galaxy that is filled with asteroids and other objects flying around with us. Burrows, a veteran aerospace writer, explains what we can do in the future to avoid serious impact from “near-Earth objects” as they are called in the planetary defense community. The good news is that a powerful space surveillance system is capable of spotting a threat at least 25 years in advance and, if they existed, a space craft “nudge” could throw an asteroid off course. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If history is an interest of yours, you will likely enjoy Andrew Young’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Lost Book of Alexander The Great </b>($26.00, Westholme Publishing). “</span><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.5pt;">Alexander the Great is well known as one of the first great empire builders of the ancient world. Among those fellow Macedonian officers who accompanied Alexander in his epic conquests from Greece to India was Ptolemy Lagides. Ptolemy served alongside Alexander from the Persian defeat at the Battle of Issus in modern-day Turkey and the journey to find the oracle that proclaimed Alexander to be Zeus incarnate, to the Battle of the Hydaspes River in 326 BC that opened India to the West. Following Alexander's death, Ptolemy gained control of Egypt where he founded the dynasty in his name, created the great library of Alexandria, and was patron of the mathematician Euclid. Sometime during his rule in Egypt, Ptolemy wrote a history of Alexander's conquests. Although it is probable that Ptolemy enhanced his own importance, sources indicate that it was regarded as an accurate and even-handed account of the campaigns of Alexander. However, Ptolemy's book was lost—perhaps with the destruction of the library he founded—and not even an original fragment has survived. His book, however, was acknowledged as a primary source of information for later Roman historians.” <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Roman Search for Wisdom </b>by Michael K. Kellogg ($28.95, Prometheus Books) provides a look at the Roman Empire that is not the usual accounts of its wars, conquests, and decline. Kellogg disputes the notion that it the Romans were just a weak comparison with the Greeks. There were in fact many Roman poets, historians, and philosophers that included Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Tacitus, Plutarch and others. I read and enjoyed Kellogg’s previous “The Greek Search for Wisdom” and this book is a worthy sequel.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Did your mom tell you to eat your vegetables? Sure she did and now you can enjoy them by reading <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Salad Samurai</b> by Terry Hope Romero ($19.99, Da Capo Press, softcover), a collection of 100 “cutting edge, ultra-hearty, easy-to-make salads.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>From the classic Caesar salad to exotic ones like avocado amaranth bhel puri chaat, this book will have you eager to sample a world of salads you never knew existed, but which look very delicious. People have all manner of hobbies and crafts provide a lot of fun for them. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sticky Fingers: DIY Duct Tape Projects</b> by Sophie Maletsky ($16.99, Zest Books, softcover) is devoted to making items from duct tape. It offers detailed instructions and, happily, lots of photos so anyone can develop their skills with more than 70 projects from cell phone holders to room dividers, backpacks, jewelry, bags, wallets and lots more. How popular is this? It’s the rare prom that does not feature a couple wearing clothes made entirely from duct tape. What has made this possible are the many new colors and designs in which duct tape is available these days. This book will appeal to the young, age 12 and up, but once into it, it’s a craft that is likely to be pursued for a long time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Summer is traditionally a time for enjoying a good book while at the beach or anywhere else we choose to relax and escape into the worlds of fiction. This summer is no exception, given a large number of novels whose various themes will provide hours of diversion for everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lcKC2HitToc/U7BDvkohBoI/AAAAAAAAOKA/jvlNkeXj2zg/s1600/Cover+-+Act+of+War.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lcKC2HitToc/U7BDvkohBoI/AAAAAAAAOKA/jvlNkeXj2zg/s1600/Cover+-+Act+of+War.jpg" height="200" width="109" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Brad Thor’s name dominates the cover of his newest novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Act of War</b>, ($27.99, Atria Books) because it is his thirteenth thriller featuring Navy SEAL turned covert counterterrorism operati8ve, Scot Harvath. The first dozen were bestsellers and this one will be too. Thor is known for his trademark “faction” in which he blends both fact and fiction in action-packed thrillers and this new novel will keep readers turning the pages as it looks at an enemy of America who knows it cannot be defeated on the battlefield, but, using unconventional devious attacks, could be. I guarantee you will be hooked within the first five pages. When a CIA agent mysteriously dies overseas, his top asset surfaces with a startling claim, but no one knows if she can be trusted. Then a succession of events occur that suggest something more than chance is at work. Six exchange students go missing, two airplane passengers trade places, and a political-asylum seeker is arrested. Facing an imminent and devastating attack, the nation’s new president turns to Harvath to undertake two top secret operations, either of which, if discovered would be an act of war, but are vital to thwarting the covert war being waged against America.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">From Seventh Street Books, an imprint of Prometheus Books, comes two novels for those who love a good mystery. In Lori Rader-Day’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Black Hour </b>($15.95, softcover) a Chicago sociology professor, Amelia Emmet, is a researcher whose topic is violence. It gets very real when a student she’d never met shows up and shoots her and then shoots himself. After surgery, she returns to campus with a growing problem with painkillers and the question, why? She wants to return to a normal life, but now hobbles with a cane. Enter Nathaniel Barber, a graduate student obsessed with Chicago’s violent history. Assigned as Amelia’s teaching assistant, he takes on the investigative legwork Amelia cannot. Together and occasionally at cross-purposes, they stumble toward a truth about the attack and which takes them both through the darkest hours of their lives.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ot6Fvc0aCPo/U7BEQ0CP0XI/AAAAAAAAOKQ/PXj3LgKNlNo/s1600/Cover+-+No+Stone+Unturned.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ot6Fvc0aCPo/U7BEQ0CP0XI/AAAAAAAAOKQ/PXj3LgKNlNo/s1600/Cover+-+No+Stone+Unturned.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">No Stone Unturned</b> ($15.95, softcover), James W. Ziskin introduces Ellie Stone, a 24-year-old journalist for a small local daily in upstate New York. On Thanksgiving 1990, a girl is found dead in the woods. There are three oil spots on the dirt road and a Dr. Pepper bottle cap in the shallow grave found by a local hunter. Ellie is the first reporter on the scene and the story may rescue her drowning career. All leads though lead nowhere until she takes a daring change that unleashes unintended chaos as she strives to unravel a dangle of small town secrets.</span> <br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_LRjf7mEGRc/U7BEfLUYkmI/AAAAAAAAOKY/qULXJKRMh5Y/s1600/Cover+-+World+of+Trouble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_LRjf7mEGRc/U7BEfLUYkmI/AAAAAAAAOKY/qULXJKRMh5Y/s1600/Cover+-+World+of+Trouble.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a>Two books from Quirk Books offer a serving, one of suspense and second a bit of fun. I enjoyed Ben H. Winters’ 2012 novel, “The Last Policeman”, a pre-apocalyptic story set six months before a massive asteroid is expected to collide with Earth. It is the first of a trilogy and part two was “Countdown City.” The third is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">World of Trouble: The Last Policeman Book III </b>out this monthly ($14.95, softcover). Suffice to say that the first received an Edgar Award and was translated into six languages and the second has been nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award and named an NPR Best Book of 2013, so you can be sure this one will prove as enjoyable. It is just 14 days before the asteroid is expected to make contact and America is in chaos. Detective Hank Palace has found a peaceful farm to live out his last days, but there is one last case for him to solve and this time it is personal. He goes in search of his sister, Nico, and finds himself at a deserted police station in Ohio where he uncovers evidence of a brutal crime. He is determined to solve the puzzle before times runs out for everyone.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-clsiIMRBd44/U7BFMP2ciaI/AAAAAAAAOK0/72fJHrpcu3w/s1600/Cover+-+Jedi+Doth+Return.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-clsiIMRBd44/U7BFMP2ciaI/AAAAAAAAOK0/72fJHrpcu3w/s1600/Cover+-+Jedi+Doth+Return.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">A very different change of pace is offered in Ian Doescher’s parody of Star Wars in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return </b>($14.95, softcover) the third in a trilogy in which Luke Skywalker and his rebel band must seek fresh allies in their quest to thwart construction of a new Imperial Death Star. This is a hilarious way to enjoy the original story as told by a very funny parodist. </div></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hhy8TjaxxD0/U7xPh-eguOI/AAAAAAAAOO4/1eATCYS4SfM/s1600/Confessions_updated_lowRes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hhy8TjaxxD0/U7xPh-eguOI/AAAAAAAAOO4/1eATCYS4SfM/s1600/Confessions_updated_lowRes.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Confessions of a Self-Help Writer: A Journal of Michael Enzo </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Benjamin W. Dehaven ($22.95, Lagniappe Publishing), is strictly for grownups, as much a comedy as a tragedy, as it tells the story of Enzo, a ghostwriter for the rich and famous, and the author of successful self-help books in his own right who faces having to write another to pay his debts. He may be able to tell others how to cope, but his own life has been filled with all manner of misdeeds that include depravity, substance abuse, and emotional complexity. This is a difficult book to describe because it seems so real, but it is never boring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>A very different story is told by Rich Marcello in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Big Wide Calm </b>($15.99, Langdon Street Press, softcover). Paige Plant has dreams of being becoming a rock star, saving the world and inspire revolutions with her songs. She sets out to do this with a perfect album. She has talent, ambition, and mega-musical skills. All she needs is a big break. Enter John Bustin, a mysterious former singer/songwriter who offers Paige one year of free room and board at his recording studio. With her help, he confronts the dark secrets of his past that rock the foundation of their relationship. It is a story of trust and the complexities of love seen through the eyes of the young and old. For anyone who is looking for a good romantic story, this is one to read.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cXa85zYGOJQ/U7BEte2VOrI/AAAAAAAAOKg/zcOVtfgm1QY/s1600/Cover+-+Flight+of+the+Sparrow.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cXa85zYGOJQ/U7BEte2VOrI/AAAAAAAAOKg/zcOVtfgm1QY/s1600/Cover+-+Flight+of+the+Sparrow.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Historical fiction is well served in Amy Belding Brown’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flight of the Sparrow </b>($15.00, New American Library, softcover). It is, in fact, based on the amazing true story of Mary Rowlandson’s capture in 1675 and depicts a monumental moment in our nation’s history. After a long-feared Native American attack, Mary is sold to a female tribal leader who puts her to work but allows her a generous and surprising amount of freedom. She becomes conflicted as she develops an uncomfortable attraction toward an English-speaking Native American, James Printer who seemingly straddles both worlds, becoming her friend and protector. When she is eventually ransomed and returns to her surviving family, she finds re-entry into the restrictive Puritan culture a challenge. The author’s knowledge of this lesser known time in our history makes for interesting reading. In Cynthia Lang’s novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Preservation </b>($14.95, Mill City Press, softcover) the year is 1987 and, after the sudden disappearance of her husband, Lee Baldwin resolves to escape Manhattan by moving to Limmington Mills, a town described as one where no one goes and nothing ever happens. She wants solitude but soon discovers that life has other plans for her. Narrated by Lee, the novel tells the story of the lost past she cherishes and the changes that happen for her and the town as she finds herself caught up in the dramas of others around her. For those who recall simpler times before the instant communications of our times, this story will prove especially interesting.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YhwDfSRO1HA/U7BE7Vjl3mI/AAAAAAAAOKo/NpE-2eoYxHg/s1600/Cover+-+Explanation+of+Everything.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YhwDfSRO1HA/U7BE7Vjl3mI/AAAAAAAAOKo/NpE-2eoYxHg/s1600/Cover+-+Explanation+of+Everything.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Lauren Grodstein, the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Explanation of Everything </b>($14.95, Algonquin Books, softcover), bases her novel on the premise that most of us want an explanation for life on earth and a clear account of our role in the grand scheme of things. It is a story, said <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Family Circle</i> of “wayward souls search for forgiveness, healing, and personal truth.” It is a deeply felt story of love, loss, hope, and the healing powers of forgiveness that takes on the contentious debate over the origins of life as biologist Andy Waite struggles to make sense of his life. He’s about to make tenure, beginning to understand his daughters, and finally overcome the loss of his wife. When a young, tenacious student shows up at his office, he gradually loses sight of his personal and professional boundaries, as well as his moral grounding, but there is also the possibility of faith. This is a complex, demanding story that will draw the reader in as it explores the salvation that love can offer. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Lastly, there’s a novella by Jerome O. Brown, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Calves in the Mud Room</b> ($6.74, available from Amazon.com, softcover). Colorado teenager Wade Summers wants nothing more than to go on his date tonight with high school hottie Glory Schoonover, but a fierce February blizzard has blown in and a couple of first-time heifers and calving early. He’s never delivered a calf on his own but has been shown how to do it by his grandfather. He is a very conflicted teenager who must confront the abuse of his shady stepfather and a betrayal by his somewhat disengaged mother. The novella captures the pains and pleasures of teen romance and escaping his dysfunctional parents while growing up in an agricultural community. Well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for July! Tell your book-loving friends, family and co-workers about Bookviews.com where new fiction and non-fiction that may not get the attention they deserve can be found every month</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">. </span></div></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-84539536712592539732014-05-30T05:53:00.000-07:002014-05-30T10:25:05.463-07:00Bookviews - June 2014<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YnTqwG0hqlA/U4YZVdX4fVI/AAAAAAAAN7I/RhaXHPYDFys/s1600/Cover+-+Smaller+Faster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YnTqwG0hqlA/U4YZVdX4fVI/AAAAAAAAN7I/RhaXHPYDFys/s1600/Cover+-+Smaller+Faster.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The world is a very complex place and that is true of the issues that directly and indirectly affect our lives. There is, in addition, a legion of people and groups eager to lie to us about those issues in order to achieve their goals. That is why books like Robert Bryce’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper </b>($27.99, Public Affairs) are “must” reading if we are to gain any understanding. I first encountered Bryce through his writings about energy. He knows the subject from A-to-Z. His book, “Power Hungary”, is well worth reading and his latest expands to define the true agenda of all those people telling us that we are destroying the Earth. “Their outlook rejects innovation and modern forms of energy, It rejects business and capitalism. Whether the message is explicit or implicit, the message coming from many of the “greens” is an anti-corporate, anti-capitalist stance that is rooted in the nation that any large business is one to be feared.” Bryce’s book takes the reader through the transitions from mankind’s earliest history through to the present showing how the development of the various forms of power, from the use of oxen to plow, to water power, to steam, to coal and oil, have all contributed to the remarkable world we share and why the use of fertilizers and genetically modified crops are feeding an extraordinary seven billion people on the planet. The enemies of mankind include those who preach a return to “a simpler life” when life expectancy in the past was often little more than age 35. These are the people who are forever crying out against the use of coal, oil and natural gas, as well as nuclear power. These are the people who insist organic food is better than that produced on modern farms. It is not better and, indeed, may be less safe to eat. If you want to shake loose of all the lies we’re being told about the climate and about modern life, you must read this remarkable book.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HgVqwNIjpJw/U4YZkbHxOaI/AAAAAAAAN74/YfHGDPwIxkA/s1600/Cover-+Takeover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HgVqwNIjpJw/U4YZkbHxOaI/AAAAAAAAN74/YfHGDPwIxkA/s1600/Cover-+Takeover.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A lot of people complain that there is no difference between the Democratic and Republican Parties and they are right when it comes to the growth of Big Government. Both bear responsibility for it no matter who was President. As regards the Republican Party, Richard A. Viguerie, often called one of the fathers of the conservative movement, has written a fascinating book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Takeover</b>, ($27.95, WND Books), subtitled “The 100-year war for the soul of the GOP and how conservatives can finally win it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This is a very lively, entertaining, and never boring history of how, more than a century ago, Teddy Roosevelt abandoned the Republican Party to advance his progressive political viewpoint that became the philosophy of the party’s establishment, thereby condemning the Party to being largely out of power for a half century until over fifty years ago, conservatives began to battle for control of the Party. When the establishment is in control, you get candidates like Dole, McCain, and Romney, all of whom lost elections. And, while Goldwater, the first to really challenge the GOP establishment did not win, he set in motion the election of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Viguerie notes, too, that while Nixon, Bush 41 and 43 won with conservative messages, their agendas were compatible with those of the Democratic Party. Anyone with an interest in politics will find this a lively, fascinating look at the past and a prediction of what is to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In February 2013, Dr. Ben Carson gave a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast that warned about the dangers facing the nation and called for a return to the principles that made America great. It caused quite a stir, perhaps because President Obama was at the head table. Since then Dr. Carson has even been spoken of as a possible candidate for President, but he is more interested in sharing his concerns. He does that in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">One Nation; What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future </b>($25.95, Sentinal, a Penguin Book imprint). “We are the pinnacle nation in the world right now, but if the examples of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Great Britain teach us anything, it is that pinnacle nations are not guaranteed their place forever. If we fail to rediscover the basic principles of common sense, manners, and morality, we will go the same way they did.” He shares his life as he shares his views and, by any measure, a black boy living in poverty with an illiterate mother should not have risen to attend Harvard and become a leading neurosurgeon. Except, of course, in America where merit counts the most. If you share fears of the future, you will find this book of interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Parenting must be one of the greatest challenges anyone encounters. I had two wonderful parents who provided me with a happy youth and all the years thereafter. I was always encouraged to pursue my interests and always supported in doing so. That’s why Alfie Kohn’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Children and Parenting</b>($25.99, Da Capo Press) caught my eye. One hears so much about today’s kids being spoiled that it was enlightening and pleasurable to read a book that says it’s just not true. Kohn challenges the assertion that education and quality child-rearing are in decline, saying that claim has been made about every prior generation. Well, it is definitely true that education in America is not turning out students with the same body of knowledge their predecessors had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Kohn also doesn’t believe there is too much over-or-under parenting going on and says that being an involved parent is far better than being a detached or dictatorial one. Kohn has written a book he hopes will serve the interests of both liberal and conservative minded parents. My Mother took the view that children are guests in the adult’s world and that there are rules for both to respect. They’re not new and include showing respect, being honest, the value of work, etc. For the parent who needs a bit of advice, this book will prove helpful. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you are one of those people who lives, breaths and dreams about baseball, you will find <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time </b>by Tim Wendel ($25.99, Da Capo Press) as he recalls the series game-by-game, rehashing the defining moments and reach back into baseball history to show the reader just what made those moments great. Wendel feels that the 1991 series was on the cusp of a new era for baseball. A founding editor of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">USA Today Baseball Weekly, </i>Wendel is the author of ten books about the game and is currently a writer-in-residence at John Hopkins University. The 1991 series was the first time a last place team climbed its way to the top—both teams were cellar-dwellers in 1990. Five of the seven games were decided by a single run with four by the last at bat. Here’s the story of two teams that took risks, followed their guts, and play from beginning to end with integrity and heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Business, Finance, Etc<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vf2fmh-LysI/U4YZmXZh3-I/AAAAAAAAN8A/WKbhCvqiBA8/s1600/Cover+-+The+Bigs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vf2fmh-LysI/U4YZmXZh3-I/AAAAAAAAN8A/WKbhCvqiBA8/s1600/Cover+-+The+Bigs.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As students graduate from college and grapple with choosing a career, find a great job, or start a business, there’s a new book by Ben Carpenter that will prove very helpful. It’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Bigs</b> ($25.00, John Wiley and Sons) and is about “the secrets nobody tells students and young professionals” about to begin an important stage in their lives. Carpenter’s career has been in the world of finance, much of it spent in Greenwich Capital which became a respected, profitable firm on Wall Street. He went from being a salesman to being its co-CEO. These days he is the vice chairman of CRT Capital Group. I cited this because he has written a common sense, up to date book that is filled with the kind of advice you would want your son or daughter to know as they enter the workforce. The book benefits as well from being very readable. For the generation trying to plan for their later years, Ric Edelman has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Truth About Retirement Plans and IRAs</b> ($15.00, Simon and Schuster, softcover), a step-by-step guide to making the most of one’s retirement plans and assuring long-term financial security. In these times, this is a critical matter in an economy that has been stagnating now since the 2008 financial crisis and two terms of the current administration. Edelman is a familiar voice to those of us in the tri-state area because his commercials air daily along with his radio and television shows. Edelman Financial Services provides planning and investment management to more than 23,000 clients and has more than $12 billion in assets under its management. As Edelman says, “Unlike members of past generations who were able to rely on their employers or the government to provide financial security in retirement, your success will be determined almost entirely by you.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those in management positions, Robert Bruce Shaw has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Leadership Blindspots </b>subtitled “How successful leaders identify and overcome weaknesses that matter” ($35.00, Jossey-Bass). The book is filled with detailed case studies that examine how blindspots operate and cites examples from firms like Apple, Amazon, Hewlet-Packard and others. If not corrected they can lead to devastating mistakes. These are often common problems that result from factors such as over-confidence in one’s own judgment, the complexity of large organizations, and being surrounded by yes-men. Changes in the marketplace seem to be happening at an accelerated pace these days, so this book can help anyone at the top or on his way there. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">People, People, People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">What we most enjoying reading about is other people. Their real lives often tell us things about ourselves or provide insights into the values we share (or not) with them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BoipqRbT6Uc/U4YZoVdBaWI/AAAAAAAAN8I/Kt3PD1AbBNk/s1600/Cover+-+Protecting+Michael+Jackson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BoipqRbT6Uc/U4YZoVdBaWI/AAAAAAAAN8I/Kt3PD1AbBNk/s1600/Cover+-+Protecting+Michael+Jackson.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For anyone who cannot get enough of the late singer, Michael Jackson, they are in for a treat. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days</b> ($26.00, Weinstein Books) is by the two men who spent 24/7 with him throughout his final years, protecting him and ensuring he had the privacy he desperately wanted. Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard have written their story with Tanner Colby. Jackson’s final years were spent moving from city to city, living with his three children in virtual seclusion. Whitfield, a former cop and veteran of the security profession was joined by a brash rookie, Beard, both of whom were single fathers as well. This is likely the only first-person account of those final years you are likely to need or read if you are a fan. Jackson was struggling to live a normal life under extraordinary circumstances after having been driven from his Neverland sanctuary by the tabloid media. Imagine having crowds screaming your name every time word got out wherever he was. Hardly a normal life and, at the end, not a particularly happy one.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I was looking forward to reading <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames</b> by Pulitzer Prize winner, Kai Bird ($26.00, Crown Publishers) who had written some very well regarded biographies of men like J. Robert Oppenheimer. Ames was a CIA officer who was killed in April 1983 when our embassy there was bombed by Islamic terrorists. Bird had known Ames as an older neighbor while he a teenager living in Saudi Arabia with his family. As a secret agent Ames job was to befriend those who could provide useful information for the agency and, while the CIA never responded to his requests, more than forty retired CIA and Mossad officers shared their memories of Ames. He was universally liked by all who worked with him. As for his Arab contacts, it helped that he spoke their language fluently and Ali Hassan Salameh, Yasir Arafat’s intelligence chief, enjoyed a clandestine relationship with him that became the seed of the Oslo peace process. For those following events in the Middle East the biography has value, but the portrait of Ames is so dominated by the author’s admiration that it fairly rapidly become rather cloying to read. That is a personal reaction and others might well disagree. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WP6rwBqOIJU/U4YZZMmDp3I/AAAAAAAAN7Q/zFFmT9QG198/s1600/Cover+-+Brothers+Forever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WP6rwBqOIJU/U4YZZMmDp3I/AAAAAAAAN7Q/zFFmT9QG198/s1600/Cover+-+Brothers+Forever.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Americans understandably became weary of the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that followed in the wake of 9/11. On that day, however, two Naval Academy roommates vowed to defend America and four weeks after Navy SEALs had killed Osama bin Laden, President Obama, on the Memorial Day that followed the event, was in Arlington National Cemetery to honor the nation’s fallen where Travis Manion, a fallen U.S. Marine, and Brendan Looney, a fallen U.S. Navy SEAL, killed three years apart, lay buried. Their story is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brothers Forever </b>by Tom Sileo and Col. Tom Manion, Travis’s father ($16.95, Da Capo Press) It is the story of their bond and ultimate sacrifice for the nation. It is the story of real people engaged in real combat and seeing their comrades die. Sileo is a nationally syndicated columnist and editor of The Unknown Soldiers blog and, as noted, Col. Manion was Travis’s father and retired Marine. Together, the two men defined a small segment of their generation’s sacrifice who put their nation’s defense first and foremost.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Jerry Sandusky, arrested and found guilty of child molestation, has ruined the name Sandusky for others who share it. One of them is Gerry Sandusky, the sports director at WBAL in Baltimore and the radio play-by-play voice of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. His book is a tribute to his father, Jon Sandusky, a former player for the Browns and Green Bay Packers who went onto become head coach of the Baltimore Colts, as well as assistant coach under legendary Don Shula at the Miami Dolphins. Jon’s life was about family and football, so it is not surprising that his son chose a career path with the game. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Forgotten Sundays: A Son’s Story of Life, Loss, and Love from the Sidelines of the NFL </b>($25.00, Running Press) will please anyone who loves football and, in particular, was a fan of the teams with which Sandusky was associated. Gerry grow up spending his summers observing his father in NFL training camps and his Sundays with superstars, Hall of Fame players, and coaches from Johnny United to Dan Marino, Don McCafferty to Tom Landry. He saw the glory days and he watched his father face a losing battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. This is a heartfelt story told with intelligence and humor that explores a father-son relationship and the legacy of values and enthusiasms his dad left him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">We all wonder what it would be like to be caught in in avalanches, shipwrecks, or the wake of tornadoes where life and death hangs in the balance. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Alive </b>is a compilation of such stories ($15.99) by Readers Digest editors. We all hope our will to survive will kick in when we need it and the stories provide fascinating examples from a mountain climber who has to crawl out of a crevasse on Mt. McKinley and must drag himself to safety, knowing his partner did not survive. There’s hiker Larry Bishop’s harrowing 48 hours clinging to the side of a mountain waiting to be rescued. There are two women who were being mauled by a grizzly and had to defy death. It is a reminder that Mother Nature doesn’t much care if you live or die, even if you do! Interesting reading for sure. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Center of Gravity</b> by Geva Salerno ($12.95, Levity Press, softcover) is the true account of how a woman changed her entire life in one year and found her personal power. She conducted an experiment in which she gave up dating for a year so she could focus on her transformation and, in the process, make some discoveries that can impact other women who are overworked, divorced, and obsessed with society’s vision of the perfect life. It’s a leap of faith on her part. She tells of dismantling her false life and building a new authentic one. She has since become an advocate for women’s empowerment. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">We have a way of turning outlaws like Billy the Kid and the Sundance Kid into American icons and this is particularly true of the Mafia that became the subjects of movies and television series. C. Alexander Hortis has written “the hidden history of how the Mafia captured New York” in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Mob and the City </b>($24.95, Prometheus Books) and it is a fascinating look at the Sicilian gangs in the 1930s evolved into the Mafia families that gained power as Prohibition became the law and as drugs became widely used, dominating crime through to the 1950s. This is a thorough and authentic history unlike “The Godfather” and countless other books. As such it is filled with surprises, based on primary sources and even secret files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act; as always, the truth is often more interesting than the fiction. The author is an attorney and an authority on the Mafia. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">To Your Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Americans may be the most health conscious people on Earth, despite the obvious fact that many are overweight and enjoy smoking and other things that we are constantly reminded will kill us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LEqM1TD7RMs/U4YZgJC1VyI/AAAAAAAAN7o/tPHXvbeASh4/s1600/Cover+-+Meditation.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LEqM1TD7RMs/U4YZgJC1VyI/AAAAAAAAN7o/tPHXvbeASh4/s1600/Cover+-+Meditation.png" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I have been told that meditation is good for one’s mental health and I received Janet Nima Taylor’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Meditation for Non Meditators: Learn to Meditate in Five Minutes </b>($15.00, available from Amazon.com, softcover). Having spent 20 years as a corporate executive, her passion has been to help people change their behavior to create positive habits. Following her corporate career she became an American Buddhist monk and is now the director of the Temple Buddhist Center in Kansas City and executive director of the Dzogchen Foundation, a national non-profit Buddhist and meditation organization. The thing I liked about this book is that it does not require you to sit on the floor, close your eyes, or do it as a religious exercise. Instead, it is a pragmatic manual on how focusing on your breathing can help lower stress and create a sense of peace and well-being no matter what your religious beliefs may be or whether you even have any. A short way of describing this is that you will learn how to hit the pause button and rest in the present moment. That strikes me as a very good idea and this book is a way to learn to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Since my Mother taught gourmet cooking for three decades I concluded that you are what you eat. That’s why <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Power of Food: Enhancing Stem Cell Growth and Decreasing Inflammation </b>by Bonnie Raffel, R.D., ($29.95, Langdon Street Press) caught my eye. After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001, the author discovered she was allergic to the drug prescribed to slow the disease’s neurologic deterioration. As a registered dietitian, Raffel search for a way to combat the disease through nutrition and the result is her book that combines original recipes and nutritional advice to help MS patients and anyone seeking a natural, healthier lifestyle. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The New Greenmarket Cookbook</b> by Gabrielle Langholtz ($24.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) combines healthy eating with good health as it offers recipes by New York’s top chefs to take advantage of the produce available from farmers markets. It’s one thing to have access to freshly picked vegetables and fruits, and another to know how to take advantage of them with delicious salads and other delightful dishes that include fish, lamb, and other delectables. It helps if you live in New York, but these markets exist in most big cities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Athlete, Not Food Addict: Wellspring’s Seven Steps to Weight Loss </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>by Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, shatters widespread beliefs about the addictive nature of food and offers an empowering method for effective weight loss. It is his view that overweight problems are caused by resistant biological forces within us, our culture, and a lack of knowledge about how to manage and overcome these challenges. He wants the reader to be a “weight-controller athlete” and learn how to use their brains to mold their bodies in a healthy direction, just as athlete’s do. One might say it is mind over platter, instead of mind over matter. For women athletes there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Pregnant Athlete </b>by Brandi and Steven Dion with Joel Heller, MD, and Perry McIntosh ($17.99, Da Capo Press, softcover). The book says there is no reason that someone used to a high level of physical activity should continue her training through a normal, healthy pregnancy. It charts the changes a woman can expect in her strength, agility, and stamina each month and includes lots of good advice. Brandi is the mother of two, so this book is author-tested. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For Younger Readers <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting children accustomed to reading books early on is the key to their success later in life. We’re fortunate to have so many books written for the pre-school, early readers, and teens.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Time for Kids is a publisher of some really excellent books for younger readers. They are particularly educational, but distinguished as well by extraordinary use of photos that make every page exciting. Among the latest are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Big Book of When</b> ($19.95) that makes history come alive answering questions such as “When did a human first travel in space?” and “When did the Egyptians build the pyramids of Giza?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>There are 801 such questions covering many topics that will interest any younger reader. Time for Kids also has a series, “Book of Why”, smaller, shorter softcover that also pose and answer many questions ($4.99 each) that include “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Really Cool People and Places”, “Awesome Animal Kingdom”, “Amazing Sports and Science”,</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Stellar Space.”</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Children tend to lose some of the knowledge they learn during the school year so these books, particularly during the summer, increase their knowledge and deepen their need to keep learning.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Aimed at those kids age 3 to 6, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Early Birdy Gets the Worm</b> created by Bruce Lansky and illustrated by Bill Bolton ($15.99, Meadowbrook Press) is a book without text so that the story is told entirely by its illustrations. It is the 2014 Gold Winner in Children’s Picture Books from the Mom’s Choice Awards. In effect, the children “read” the pictures of Early Birdy learning how to catch a worm after watching Mother Bird. It is a very funny adventure and a great way to introduce a child to the joy a book can offer. Others in this series include <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Polar Brrr’s Big Adventure </b>and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monkey See, Monkey Do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></b>Next step are books with a text.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wq7y36D_poY/U4YZiIUiCQI/AAAAAAAAN7w/8YuxSOxqYx8/s1600/Cover+-+Must+Have+Marvin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wq7y36D_poY/U4YZiIUiCQI/AAAAAAAAN7w/8YuxSOxqYx8/s1600/Cover+-+Must+Have+Marvin.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">From Ideals Children’s Books, Nashville, TN, comes a new series, “Shine Bright Kids”, (</span><a href="http://shinebrightkids.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">http://shinebrightkids.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">) the creation of Christy Ziglar, the daughter of famed motivator, Zig Ziglar. A mother of twins and a certified financial planner, she wanted to publish books that will help younger readers develop good money management skills. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Must-Have Marvin! </b>($14.99) will ring a bell for any parent whose child wants to have the latest new things he or she learns about and is, in fact, the second in the series which began in 2013 with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Can’t-Wait Willow </b>($14.99)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>about a little girl who spends all her time and money on things she doesn’t really want or need. Both are written by Christy Ziglar and are illustrated by Luanne Marten. Both impart valuable lessons from Willow’s need to learn how to delay instant gratification and Marvin’s need to learn that people matter more than things. For early readers, 5 and up, the texts are easy and entertaining, benefitting from the artwork. For parents, they teach good lessons in life in ways that just explaining them might not. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I’m a fan of a series, “When I Grow Up I Want to Be” from Wigu Publishing (</span><a href="http://www.whenigrowupbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.WhenIGrowUpBooks.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">) of Laguna Beach, California. I recommend you visit their websites because you are likely to find a title that fits your child’s interest. The latest is devoted to being <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In the U.S. Navy </b>($12.95) that features young Noah who dreams of being in the Navy just like his grandfather who is taking him to tour a real aircraft carrier. Noah’s little sister is coming along as well and as they discover how interesting the carrier is with its crew and different decks, the readers will too. For the early readers of this series, doors open up thanks to the useful, accurate information they provide. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oIbZ6FWJFsQ/U4YZqQC9a8I/AAAAAAAAN8Q/OKURcV09xUQ/s1600/Cover+-+Pandemic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oIbZ6FWJFsQ/U4YZqQC9a8I/AAAAAAAAN8Q/OKURcV09xUQ/s1600/Cover+-+Pandemic.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Young adults will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pandemic</b> by Yvonne Ventresca ($`6.95, Sky Pony Press/Skyhorse Publishing), the story of Lilianna Snyder’s sudden change from a model student to a withdrawn pessimist who worries about all kinds of disasters. One arrives in the form of quick-spreading illness that doctors are unable to treat. With her parents away on business, she finds herself on her own when the bird flu pandemic arrives and friends and neighbors begin dying around her. She must find a way to survive the deadly outbreak and, at the same time, deal with her personal demons, the result of a teacher’s sexual assault. If this sounds very grownup, it is. Also for young adults and for those who like a bit of magic in their fiction, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dangerous Creatures </b>by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl whose previous book, “Beautiful Creatures” is now a motion picture. This novel is part of a series by them and is a tale of love and magic in which a woman with magical capabilities, Ridley Duchannes, and her wannabe rocker boyfriend, Wesley “Link” Lincoln leave Stonewall Jackson High School and their adolescence behind as they head to New York City, each for their own reasons. Ridley is accustomed to using her powers to control Mortals, but her overconfidence has cost her and now she has debts to settle in the city. Link has dreams to become a rock star and joins a band comprised of “Dark Supernaturals.” It’s hard to describe this novel, but that is not to say it will prove entertaining to younger adult readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The flow of new novels into my office reflects the even greater number of novels being published these days by large and small publishers as well as self-published. The best I can do is to select from the many I receive and take notice of them for your consideration.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FidBq_0Z26g/U4YZdXiqnkI/AAAAAAAAN7g/AOQGnPVzbxo/s1600/Cover+-+Dodenal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FidBq_0Z26g/U4YZdXiqnkI/AAAAAAAAN7g/AOQGnPVzbxo/s1600/Cover+-+Dodenal.jpg" height="200" width="123" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Dodendal: Valley of Dreams </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Jim Holmgren ($14.95, softcover) is a good&nbsp;example of a self-published book. The author has created a fictional future of the United States, one very different from the present where we continue to have faith in our Constitution. By tweaking some current trends, his novel suggests the importance of protecting the freedoms we often take for granted. It is fifty years hence and the action takes place over the course of one fateful weekend during the celebrating the tricentennial of the “former” U.S, one bankrupted after Mideast oil wars in the 2030s and missing four states including California after the Second Mexican-American War. The nation is now run by a corporation that has imposed a totalitarian society. Dissenters tend to disappear. You can learn more at </span><a href="http://www.holmgrenbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.holmgrenBooks.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">. A debut novel by Jeff Critser, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cold Shadows</b>, ($16.95, Dark Matters Press, softcover) has a similar feel to it. It is a techno-thriller that reflects the public’s distrust in government and activities taken outside of any oversight, something in the news as we read of concerns about the National Security Agency. Playing off those concerns, the novel explores themes of smuggling and murder, all committed in the name of an undefined and ill-conceived “greater good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>When Philip Kurchow, the IT manager for a transportation company in Munich, aware of a smuggling operation in Eastern Europe is murdered, his friend Kip Michelson tries to find out why and how it happened only to find himself ensnared in a dark world of betrayal. A lethal virus, stolen from Russian vaults, is up for sale and Kip is recruited by the FBI to uncover the smuggling. Secretly, the CIA is trying to intercept the technology for clandestine research. Kip finds himself being stalked and must race to expose what is occurring. You won’t put this one down until you’ve read it cover to cover.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Lovers of thriller novels will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Argentine Triangle </b>($16.95, Select Books, softcover)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>by Allan Topol, the author of “The Russian Endgame” that hit the bestseller lists. Topol has authored nine novels of international intrigue and, in this novel former CIA director Craig Page is enjoying a new, exhilarating life racing cars across Europe. When an old friend goes missing during a covert mission in Argentina, he gets involved. It takes him undercover into the glamorous world of Buenos Aires’ wealthy elite and the plans of two colonels that requires him to implement his experience and skills to expose their plot for a cataclysmic future for South America. This is a classic espionage novel and international thriller with villains and exotic locales. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Two Soldiers </b>by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom ($26.99, Quercus) takes you to Stockholm, Sweden where it was originally published and into the life of Jose Pereira, a police officer who heads up the department’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, who must find two ruthless young criminals. It is a look at the dark and dangerous world where gang life is the only place that boys from broken, impoverished families can find acceptance and from which there is no escape. The novel has been called an “unsettling portrait of the gangland cycle of violence, desperation, and hope.” It is all that and a very compelling read as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2_4gffUp0Z8/U4YZu3SCF0I/AAAAAAAAN8Y/-WKzbWDDMj8/s1600/Cover-a-high-price-to-pay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2_4gffUp0Z8/U4YZu3SCF0I/AAAAAAAAN8Y/-WKzbWDDMj8/s1600/Cover-a-high-price-to-pay.jpg" height="200" width="163" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A High Price to Pay</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> is a Madeline Dawkins novel by Cynthia Hamilton (</span><a href="http://www.cynthiahamiltonbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.cynthiahamiltonbooks.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">). I enjoyed her last book, “Spouse Trap”, and in this one <span style="color: #333333;">Madeline’s dual professions as event coordinator and private investigator cross paths during the most lavish affair of her career—a weekend-long fortieth birthday extravaganza for the wife of a famous film director. A simple background check after the disappearance of some family jewels quickly turns into a murder investigation, and before Madeline and Mike can put the pieces together, another body turns up. As the Santa Barbara police and sheriff’s departments search for clues, the Mad Dog P.I.’s use their own methods to untangle the crimes, discovering some unsavory truths behind the glittering façade of their clients. To add to Madeline’s already overflowing plate, the D.A. informs her that Rick Yeoman, one of the men who had abducted her three years earlier, has been prematurely released from prison after cutting a deal with the Feds. Besides fearing reprisals from the man she helped to convict, his parole also triggers the reappearance of soulless Lionel Usherwood, lured out his hideaway by the call of revenge. When Yeoman’s body surfaces in Lake Cachuma, Usherwood moves on to the next target: Madeline.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Never Never Sisters </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by L. Alison Heller ($15.00, New American Library, softcover) is a story of a woman who just needs to get away and relax. Paige Reinhardt, a hardworking marriage counselor, is looking forward to reconnecting with his busy husband for a summer in the Hamptons, but a mysterious emergency at work ruins their travel plans and everything begins to unravel. As Paige tries to figure out what is really going on in her own marriage, her sister suddenly returns after twenty years and Paige discovers that she may not know her family as well as she thought as she digs into her husband’s work crisis. She must figure out if it is worth it to find herself at the risk of losing her most precious relationships. This is about the complicated bond between sisters and the secrets kept to protect the ones we love. The author is a divorce lawyer and this brings a special level of insight to the story. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for June! Be sure to come back in July and, in the meantime, tell your friends, family and coworkers who enjoy reading about Bookviews.com. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-50515352505545366382014-04-30T14:59:00.002-07:002014-04-30T15:10:12.106-07:00Bookviews - May 2014<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H6vkylKMpMo/U11s9J3OSUI/AAAAAAAANtk/aRFBnYPj3wM/s1600/Cover+-+The+Lost+Spring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H6vkylKMpMo/U11s9J3OSUI/AAAAAAAANtk/aRFBnYPj3wM/s1600/Cover+-+The+Lost+Spring.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you have been trying to understand what is going on in the Middle East and the Maghreb (northern African) nations of Tunisia and Libya, among others in the wake of the “Arab Spring” that occurred in 2011, then you must read Walid Phares’ excellent analysis, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Lost Spring: U.S. Policy in the Middle East and Catastrophes to Avoid</b> ($27.00, Palgrave Macmillan). Phares is an expert on the Middle East, terrorism, and Islam. He is a frequent guest on news programs and an advisor to members of Congress and the European Parliament. Like the mythical Casandra who could predict the future, but who no one believed, Phares predicted that a younger, technologically connected generation, along with secular Muslims, were reaching a point where they would no longer accept the oppression of the region’s despots. The “Arab Spring” was ignited in Tunisia, but spread rapidly to Egypt, Libya, and Syria. He documents how, in each case, the Muslim Brotherhood waited for the demands, often of millions of citizens as occurred in Egypt, brought about the removal of men who had ruled for decades. Then, as a well-organized force, took over the revolutions and sought to exert their Islamism, Sharia law, and the same controls against which the people had revolted. What also emerges is the fact that the U.S. sided with the Muslim Brotherhood against the will of the people. Other U.S. policies failures followed, as in the case of Syria. This is the best book you will read about what occurred, why, and what the future may hold. </span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d-n06mJLo0k/U11tHRiLgsI/AAAAAAAANts/myii0ts0Rqk/s1600/Cover+-+Benghazi+Report.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d-n06mJLo0k/U11tHRiLgsI/AAAAAAAANts/myii0ts0Rqk/s1600/Cover+-+Benghazi+Report.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a>If you are of a political frame of mind, you may want to pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Benghazi Report </b>($12.95, Skyhorse Publishing) that was produced by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. With an introduction by Roger Stone, a consultant who played a role in the election of Republican presidents from Nixon to George H.W. Bush. “The revelation that the U.S. government has made an affirmative choice not to bring the killers of four Americans to justice is disturbing and unconscionable,” says Stone and many agree. As the event recedes in time and memory, the short report contains the relevant facts. One caveat; Hillary Clinton’s role in the events is never mentioned, nor is she named at any point in the report. In late April we learned that the White House told a complete falsehood, discounting the fact that it was a terrorist attack, calling it spontaneous, and blaming it on a video. <br /><br />Those who favor conservative politics will thoroughly enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Guardian of the Republic</b> by former Congressman, Allen West ($26.00, Crown Forum), a memoir that is also a presentation of the personal views and values that shaped a life devoted to faith, family, and freedom. West earned two master’s degrees, one from Kansas State University in political science and the second from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in military arts and sciences. </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GkWBRmjtY58/U11tW0v0VdI/AAAAAAAANt4/JkyT4ykpAK4/s1600/Cover+-+Guarden+of+the+Republic.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GkWBRmjtY58/U11tW0v0VdI/AAAAAAAANt4/JkyT4ykpAK4/s1600/Cover+-+Guarden+of+the+Republic.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">He is a natural born teacher and his book is valuable for its chapters about conservative political thought; its origins and application. An African-American, he rose through the ranks of the U.S. Army to Lt. Colonel, serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan. While much of the African-American community shares a liberal political philosophy, West found purpose and value in conservatism and it took him to a term in Congress as a Representative from Florida. Along the way his experiences and beliefs deepened his views. He is likely to have a real impact on American politics in the years ahead. </div></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">James Madison was our&nbsp;fourth President, but other than being mentioned among our nation’s Founders, he tends to take a back seat to Washington and Jefferson in the minds of most people, if indeed they even know he exist. Dr. Lynn Cheney, PhD, a noted scholar, a member of the Commission on the Bicentennial and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has gifted us with an extraordinary biography, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">James Madison: A Life Reconsidered </b>($36.00, Viking).</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AUtqFzqoZ8U/U11tmpwEsCI/AAAAAAAANuA/kNVs0EV2B1g/s1600/Cover+-+James+Madison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AUtqFzqoZ8U/U11tmpwEsCI/AAAAAAAANuA/kNVs0EV2B1g/s1600/Cover+-+James+Madison.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>Madison, though younger than most of the Founders, was recognized by all of them and others with whom he dealt as an extremely gifted intellect. He is generally credited with much of content of the Constitution, most certainly its Bill of Rights. In his day, the idea of a large republic composed of the people’s representatives initially was greeted with skepticism, but he pushed for a strong, but limited federal government to replace the failed Articles of Confederation and respond to the ways the colonies were printing their own money and engaging in practices that harmed other colonies. Dr. Cheney brings him to life, not only with the facts, but with an engaging, entertaining text that provides valuable insights to the times in which he lived. Put this book on your list for summer reading. You will be glad you did.<o:p></o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I have always enjoyed books based on a clever idea and that describes Mario Giordano’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1,000 Feelings for Which There are No Names </b>($16.00, Penguin Books, softcover). He has captured those moments that we react to emotionally without necessarily being aware of it. They are moments from our lives such as the hesitation before sending an important email and the happiness of fulfilling one of your mother’s lifelong dreams. It’s the kind of book you can open at random although it does have sections of sorts. This is the kind of book you keep around to remind you of life’s many pleasures and fears. We all share them. For the sheer pleasure of reading good writing that spans a wide variety of his experiences, I recommend Christopher Buckley’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">But Enough About You</b>, ($27.50, Simon and Schuster), a series of essays, by an esteemed humorist, traveler, and an irreverent historian. He is extremely gifted and as one goes from essay to essay, one is treated to reading his insights, friends such as authors Joseph Heller and Christopher Hitchens, dinner at the Reagan White House, flying a Cessna through Alaskan mountains, working aboard a freighter, gardening, and other topics galore. One is both entertained and enlightened in so many ways that reading Buckley, for aspiring writers, is a lesson in how to observe life and write about it in a superb fashion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Readers are often aspiring writers and, if you have to write as part of your job, you will benefit from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Write Anything: A Complete Guide </b>by Laura Brown ($35.00, W.W. Norton). It lives up to its title as it teaches how to organize, draft and revise what you write and gets into the differences between academic writing, how to write instructions, and expository writing. Everything from a business letter to a memo, an apology to a speech is discussed. There are rules and there are options. You can learn about all of them in this definitive book on the subject. More and more these days, people are choosing to write memoirs and, for them, there’s Roberta Temes’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Write a Memoir in 30 Days </b>($14.99, Readers Digest, softcover). It offers step-by-step instructions for creating and publishing your personal story. Janell Burley Hofman has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">iRules: What Every Tech-Healthy Family Needs to Know About Selfies, Sexting, Gaming, and Growing Up</b> ($17.99, Rodale, softcover), a particularly useful book for parents who want to teach their sons and daughters about the boundaries and expectations of how to use the many communications technologies that are available to the younger set. It is well worth reading to keep one’s children how to deal with cyber-bullying, and aspects of their lives that should not be instantly shared online and in cyber-space. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In a month, a lot of young Americans will be graduating from high school. They are doing so in some very bad economic times that add to the uncertainties that come with the transition. For high school students, figuring out what to do after graduation can be a major question because there are many options. That’s why <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Undecided: Navigating Life and Learning After School </b>by Genevieve Morgan ($14.99, Zest Books, distributed by Houghton Mifflin, softcover) is just the right book to give a young man or woman at this point in their lives. It helps by putting the decision-making power back where it belongs, with the teens themselves, while exploring the options that are available whether it be a training program, a community college, the military or a four-year university. It provides an in-depth look at what they can expect to earn, what kind of lifestyle to expect, and possible downsides of different scenarios. Being undecided is what being human is all about. Providing a helping hand is a great gift. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Memoirs, Biographies</span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x8nfNHugU6c/U11uDNkBn6I/AAAAAAAANuE/TE56-wHHnXo/s1600/Cover+-+Roy+Rogers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x8nfNHugU6c/U11uDNkBn6I/AAAAAAAANuE/TE56-wHHnXo/s1600/Cover+-+Roy+Rogers.jpg" height="200" width="181" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My youth happily included the movies that starred Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. When the first volume of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Touch of Roy and Dale</b> I was very pleased to read it and revisit those days. A second volume is out and includes many new photos, some 600, along with an excellent text by Tricia Spencer ($21.95, West Quest). In volume II the author draws on 40,000 pieces of fan mail from the Rogers estate, plus new perspective from Roy and Dale’s grandchildren, along with the thoughts of those close to them during their long career. A portion of the sales will go to their Happy Trails Children’s Foundation. They touched the lives of thousands and had a huge fan base. How nice to read about two celebrities whose lives were not touched by the often tawdry things we read about the generation that followed them. </span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FDeUFlljSSk/U11uO9TZqEI/AAAAAAAANuM/xphHDjmKjj0/s1600/Cover+-+Time+of+my+Life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FDeUFlljSSk/U11uO9TZqEI/AAAAAAAANuM/xphHDjmKjj0/s1600/Cover+-+Time+of+my+Life.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Almost fifty years after its release, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” is thirty-fourth on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Best Songs of All Time and remains Broadcast Music Inc’s most played song of the twentieth century. It was sung by the Rightous Brothers, Bill Medley and the late Bobby Hatfield. Together they left an indelible impression on the music theirs and succeeding generation loved. Medley has penned <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Time of My Life: A Rightous Brother’s Memoir </b>($26.99, Da Capo Press) and fans of their music will thoroughly enjoy his account of growing up as the son of musicians in Orange County, California, where he recorded his first solo songs on two tape recorders in his living room. His first paying gig was with a four-piece group, The Paramours, where he met his future partner, Bobby. Together they enjoy enormous success, making more money that two men who were “young, dumb, and full of rum” to know what to do with. They were performing with groups like the Beatles and Rolling Stones, as well as Elvis Presley. After they split up, Medley went onto a successful solo career, but his life was not without tragedy as he tells in the heartbreaking account of his first wife’s brutal and unsolved murder, and his struggle to raise their son Darrin as a single parent. His second marriage is in its 27<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> year. The memoir is enhanced by a foreword by Billy Joel. Medley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 and continues to tour and perform. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">War always generates memoirs and a particularly moving one is by the late Max Gendelman, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Tale of Two Soldiers</b>, ($14.95, Two Harbors Press, softcover) and begins on December 18, 1944 when the then 12-year-old soldier was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. A Jew, he had more reason to fear for his life than other prisoners. While imprisoned, though, he met Karl Kirschner, a lieutenant in the German Luftwaffe. It turned out that both had a passion for chess and, in time, they decided that both, captor and prisoner, would escape the prison camp! Their friendship would last sixty years and transcended the bigotry of the times they shared. It is a story of courage, faith, and honor. Gendelman returned home, married and started a family and a successful business. In 1952 he helped his friend come to the United States. He died in June 2012 and was buried with military honors. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of the most dramatic incidents of World War II was the torpedoing of the USS Indianapolis on July 30, 1945 as it made its way to a small island in the South Pacific, sailing unescorted after delivering uranium to be used in the first atomic bombs. Told that the waters were safe, Edgar Harrell and several other Marines were sacked out on deck when six torpedoes sank the ship, leaving him and other survivors in the ocean for five horrifying days, until those not killed by sharks, were picked up. The story of his courage, ingenuity and faith is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Out of the Depths </b>($16.99, Bethany House Publishers). Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas and TV personality, said, “There aren’t too many times when the word ‘hero’ is appropriately used. Heroes are people who do extraordinary things and in the service of others, Edgar Harrell is a true American hero.” One of the tragedies of World War II was the refusal of the U.S. government that on May 13, 1939 that denied entry to the MS St. Louis, sailing from Hamburg, Germany, and filled with Jews seeking to escape the Nazi government. Among those on board were the grandfather and uncle of Martin Goldsmith and they and the other passengers were returned to Europe where many were sent to concentration camps where they died. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Alex’s Wake</b>, ($25.99, Da Capo Press), he details his six-week quest to retrace their journey to assuage the guilt he carried for living happily in America despite his family’s tormented history. The book is more than just his and his family’s, but one that many experienced, including Germans who regretted the horror the Nazis inflicted on Jews and others. It is 75 years since that event and a reminder that America only entered World War II after being attacked by Japan. The Nazis were defeated, but not before they killed millions, among whom were the victims on the MS St. Louis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A memoir by the mother of Tim Burroway, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Losing Tim</b>, ($14.95, Think Piece Publishing, softcover) is dedicated to him, “Captain, Ranger, Paratrooper, husband, father, hunter contractor for humanitarian mine removal in Iraq, Republican, romantic, idealist, perfectionist, gun nut, my first born, my baby.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>After serving in the U.S. Army, Tim became a private contractor, essentially undertaking the same jobs as those in service, but without many of the benefits. How big a role do they play? A large number of those serving the nation in Afghanistan are private contractors, but according to a recent RAND survey, many return home with mental health issues at a higher rate than the soldiers and there are 22 suicides a day in the veteran population. Janet Burroway has authored fifteen books for adults and three for children. The journey that Tim took was one from a defender of America to one deeply disappointed by both the origin and outcome of the war in Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein. As she notes, one in three returns from our war zones with a mental disorder and the life Tim imagined and then lived was filled with disappointment despite his commitment to it. Some lives are just filled with too much tragedy, but Tim was fortunate to have a mother who could relate the facts of his life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Minding the Mind<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The power of our minds and the way it exerts that power over our lives always makes for interesting reading and, in many cases, useful insight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XVvFEX_-kt0/U11ucivZm0I/AAAAAAAANuY/jYvyTvXKbo0/s1600/Cover+-+Autism+Breakthrough.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XVvFEX_-kt0/U11ucivZm0I/AAAAAAAANuY/jYvyTvXKbo0/s1600/Cover+-+Autism+Breakthrough.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of the problems that have increasingly come to public attention has been autism, an affliction that parents notice early on. The diagnosis often is devastating, but <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Autism Breakthrough: The Groundbreaking Method that Has Helped Families All Over the World </b>by Raun K. Kaufman ($25.99, St. Martin’s Press) will come as very good news for those families dealing with it. Kaufman is the director of global education for the Autism Treatment Center of America. He is living proof autism can be treated and overcome. He shares the groundbreaking principles and strategies that helped him and offers new hope through a scientifically proven roadmap that helps autistic children overcome it. His parents literally turned all the recommended cures on their head and chose to work with him instead of against the symptoms he displayed, building a bridge to his world. The book is an accessible, step-by-step guide. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those who like to explore the scientific side of things, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mental Biology: The New Science of How the Brain and Mind Relate </b>by W.R. Klemm ($19.95, Prometheus Books, softcover.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The author focuses on how the mind emerges from nerve-impulse patterns in the densely-packed neural circuits that make up most of the brain, suggesting that the conscious mind can be seen as a sort of neural-activity-based avatar. As an identity in its own right, the mind on a conscious level can have significant independent action, shaping the brain that sustains it through its plans, goals, interests, and interactions with the world. He also delves into the role of dream sleep in both animals and humans, and explains the brain-based differences between non-conscious, unconscious, and conscious minds. Dr. Klemm has written extensively on this subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Can love and anger co-exist? Yes say the authors of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Riding the Passionate Edge: Converting Tension into Emotional Intimacy, </b>($15.95, Langdon Street Press, softcover). In an intimate relationship it is a common error to believe that emotional closeness and tension can’t co-exist. Mary and Tom Cushman provide concrete skills for transforming relationships, even those that may feel beyond repair, into those that recapture the original feelings that drew two people together. They make a powerful case for engaging tension directly and skillfully through empathetic listening, straight talk, compassion and forgiveness to heal the damage caused by unresolved emotional wounds. The authors are a married pair of long-time counselors, having been clergy and teachers, who for the past 16 years have been private practice counselors. Another book that can prove helpful is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Be Real: Because Fake is Exhausting</b> by Rick Bezet (19.99, Baker Books), the pastor of New Life Church in Arkansas. “God makes it simple for us,” says Bezert. “Being fake is exhausting, and it drains us and eventually kills our body and our soul. But being real requires us to put God first in our lives and to allow his love to overflow into every area of our lives. Our hope in him is real.” Well, I did say he was a pastor, but he is also an engaging author who knows that the world is full of fakers and even some who attend church every Sunday can be included among them. His book is a call to readers to live a life based on authenticity. For those with a healthy spiritual life, this book will prove supportive and instructive.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Books for Tots &amp; Teens<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The greatest gift for any child is the enjoyment of reading, so get them started early.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sEIrtAnsS6s/U11uvCnaK4I/AAAAAAAANug/H_O2BAHy7uo/s1600/Cover+-+Pansy+in+Paris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sEIrtAnsS6s/U11uvCnaK4I/AAAAAAAANug/H_O2BAHy7uo/s1600/Cover+-+Pansy+in+Paris.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A new addition to her series is Cynthia Bardes’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pansy in Paris: A Mystery at the Museum </b>($18.95, Octobre Press), illustrated by Virginia Best. Her previous book was “Pansy at the Palace: A Beverly Hills Mystery.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>In this one Pansy, a poodle and Avery, a little girl who adopted her, solve who is stealing paintings with a story that will surely entertain those to whom it is read or old enough to read it for themselves. It is told from Pansy’s point of view and this large format book with full page artwork is just delightful. The same age group, from 2 and up, will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Bee Named Bea </b>by Candace A. Dietz with illustrations by Virginia J. Rost ($14.95, Mixed Media Memoirs), a collection of poems about various animals such as a cow that can’t stop mooing or a lonely bee that everyone is afraid of. Each poem ends with a cheerful resolution. The book has twenty poem-stories to keep young minds engaged. Some books for the very young with the intention to teach important life lessons and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Simple Idea to Empower Kids </b>by Kathleen Boucher ($13.95, Balboa Press) offers three principles to young readers age 3 to 12, about the power of love, choice and belief to help them develop self-confidence and deal with whatever comes their way in life. Parents will find this book very helpful to get a child off to a good start.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Miss You Like Crazy </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Pamela Hall and illustrated by Jennifer A. Bell ($15.99, Tanglewood) is written for those ages 6 to 8 and is a story that reminds children that, even when parents are away at work, they are always thinking about them. It is a lighthearted way to reassure children of their importance in their parent’s busy lives. Also from Tanglewood is Audrey Penn’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Kissing Hand for Chester Raccoon</b> ($7.99) for the even young set, ages 2 to 4. It is now a board book, made study enough to withstand all manner of handling. This book is becoming a children’s classic, having already touched the lives of many readers who benefit from Mrs. Raccoon’s secret for making a child feel safe and secure.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6aCUPKf_cW8/U2FxbbNGIoI/AAAAAAAANv0/BSey8qlS8jI/s1600/Cover+-+US+Pilgrims+to+Patriots.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6aCUPKf_cW8/U2FxbbNGIoI/AAAAAAAANv0/BSey8qlS8jI/s1600/Cover+-+US+Pilgrims+to+Patriots.png" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For the younger set, pre-teens, there is an excellent book based on American history, <strong>Pilgrims to Patriots: A Grandfather Tells the Story</strong> by Alex Bugaeff ($24.95, print, $8.99 Ebook, Create Space) that, in fact, the older reader will enjoy as well. A grandfather shares his knowledge of the years that led up to the American Revolution and brings to life the nation's founders as real, living men, along with a host of other characters from our early years such as Molly Pitcher, a cannoneer, and events like the War of Jenkins' Ear, to Elizabeth Key, the slave who sued the Virginia Colony for her freedom. It is both educational and very entertaining. The book's value is enhanced by the need to impart such knowledge to a younger generation that is not receiving it sufficiently in our schools.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Pre-teens and teens benefit from reading novels that overcome today’s “tweet” reduction of everything to 140 characters. Cara Bertrand begins her “Sentantia” series with a fantasy story, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lost in Thought</b>($19.95/$11.95, Luminis Books, hard and softcover) about Lainey who everyone thinks has severe migraines from stress and exhaustion. In truth, Lainey, age 16, has visions of how people died or are going to die, a secret she keeps to herself. Doctors advise she be enrolled in a private New England boarding school to help cure her, but while there is no cure, she discovers that everyone at Northbrook Academy has a secret too where half the students and nearly all the staff are members of Sententia, a hidden society of the psychically gifted. This paranormal theme, along with a bit of romance, and lots of action-packed twists to the plot will keep any young reader turning the pages. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RDiQnb_tM1I/U2FyGh_QuEI/AAAAAAAANv8/d7J5mkFKHyk/s1600/Cover+-+Don't+Call+Me+Baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RDiQnb_tM1I/U2FyGh_QuEI/AAAAAAAANv8/d7J5mkFKHyk/s1600/Cover+-+Don't+Call+Me+Baby.jpg" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Don’t Call Me Baby </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Gwendolyn Heasley ($9.99, HarperTeen, softcover) will gain the author even more readers, especially if they have read her two previous young adult readers. It’s about the daughter, a teenager, whose Mommy Blogger has no concept of boundaries, having been writing about her since before she was born, telling everything about her on the popular blog. At age 15, Imogene has been protesting to no avail. When a mandatory school project requires her to start her own blog, she is reluctant to expose any more of her life online until she realizes that the project is an opportunity to define herself for the first time on her own terms and to give her mother a taste of her own medicine! This is a story that is heartfelt and often laugh-out-loud, sure to please the girls for whom it is written. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Spring for the publishing world is—as is the autumn—the time they roll out many new books and, when it comes to novels, it would appear that fiction still has a large audience to satisfy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SklPdH1QwSQ/U11wNwIIh6I/AAAAAAAANuo/E9dbTGQOFJ8/s1600/Cover+-+The+Blonde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SklPdH1QwSQ/U11wNwIIh6I/AAAAAAAANuo/E9dbTGQOFJ8/s1600/Cover+-+The+Blonde.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">You can’t write novels unless you have an active imagination and Anna Godbersen surely does. She already has two bestsellers, “The Luxe” and “Bright Young Things”. Having come of age when Marilyn Monroe was the quintessential superstar, I must confess the theme of her new novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Blonde</b>, ($26.00, Weinstein Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group) was a bit off-putting, but that will surely not be the case for most others younger than myself. In this book, Godbersen conjures up a Marilyn Monroe who, through the help of a mysterious stranger, rises from being the young, unknown Norma Jeane Baker with aspirations of being an actress to the famed movie star twelve years later. Her benefactor, however, is a member of the then-Soviet KGB and she is told to find something about John F. Kennedy that they can use in some fashion. Instead of aiding the KGB she falls in love with him and, when she learns of plans to assassinate him, she must escape her Soviet handlers to save him and herself. The novel incorporates the Hollywood of her era, the murderous intrigue, and the elements of a well-known actual history. Together they become a novel that makes for a great read and is likely to end up a film at some point. Intrigue and murder from an earlier era, that found in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels, is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Conan Doyle Notes: The Secret of Jack the Ripper</b> by Diane Gilbert Madsen ($28.95, MX Publishing, London, available via Amazon.com). The publisher is the world’s largest specialist in books featuring the most famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. Steve Emecz, the MX managing director, says “There has never been a better time to be a Sherlock Holmes fan” he is thrilled to have her novel. “It’s perfect for a fan base with an appetite for modern thrillers with a link back to Conan Doyle.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Her novel involves a wealthy Chicago lumber baron’s diary which reveals that Doyle left some valuable handwritten notes during his 1894 visit to Chicago. They contain vital information about the Ripper murders. When the diary is stolen, D.D. McGil, an academic turned insurance investigator, comes upon information she believes confirms the identity of Jack the Ripper and finds herself a target in a deadly game to locate a literary find that could rewrite history. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monday, Monday </b>Elizabeth Cook tells the story of a tragedy in Texas that changes the course of three lives ($26.00, Sarah Crichton Books). Based on an actual incident when, in August 1966, Charles Whitman hauled a footlocker of guns to the top of the University of Texas tower and began firing on pedestrians below. He killed sixteen people and wounded thirty-two. It was the first mass shooting of civilians on a campus in American history. The novels follows three students caught up in the massacre, Shelly who walks into the path of the bullets and two cousins, Wyatt and Jack, who heroically rush from their classrooms to help the victims. On that day a relationship begins that entangles them in a forbidden love affair, an illicit pregnancy, and a vow of secrecy that will span forty years. Reunited decades after the tragedy, they will be forced to confront the event that changed their lives and that has silently and persistently ruled the lives of their children. At its core, it is the story of a woman determined to make peace with herself, with the people she loves, and with a history that will not let her go.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pot8dE_QVXw/U11wm0s5JUI/AAAAAAAANuw/paHFDeM-O58/s1600/Cover+-+Sunrise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pot8dE_QVXw/U11wm0s5JUI/AAAAAAAANuw/paHFDeM-O58/s1600/Cover+-+Sunrise.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A very different story is told by Mike Mullen in Book 3 of the “Ashfall Trilogy”, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunrise</b>, ($17.99, Tanglewood). It takes place after the Yellowstone super-volcano has nearly wiped out the human race. It is now almost a year after the eruption and the survivors seem determined to finish the job as communities wage war on each other, gangs of cannibals roam the countryside, and what little government survived has completely collapsed. Sickness, cold, and starvation are the survivor’s constant companions. The debut novel “Ashfall” in 2011 was a big hit as was Book 2, “Ashen Winter” in 2012. No doubt Book 3 will enjoy a similar acclaim as it is a triumph of imagination as Mullen takes on the task of writing about a world of survivors must overcome the horrendous outcome of the eruption. It addresses questions of responsibility, and bravery, civilization, and society. Though written as a young adult novel, I think older readers will enjoy it as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A number of softcover novels provide some entertaining as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We have entered an era in which anyone who wants to write a novel can get it published. Jeff Turner has had a long, successful career as a college professor with more than twenty college-level textbooks to his credit and he draws on his experience in academia and life to have written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Way Back </b>($14.95, Page Publishing). It is about a college professor who is at the top of his game, living a posh live in a Connecticut shoreline town, whose world is turned upside down when he faces trumped up charges of academic harassment. In the midst of that crisis he discovers his wife has been unfaithful and that his son is being bullied by high school thugs. If that isn’t enough, a seductive and mysterious woman enters his life, along with troubling memories of an incident from a family swimming pool party that went horribly wrong. He and his family must cope with uncertainty and upheaval. It is the story of the emotional frailty that can strike anyone without warning and how his family must deal with the family’s inner demons. This is a novel that demands to be read from cover to cover because it is going to be hard to put down. A very different story is told by Lynne Raimondo in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dante’s Poison</b>, a novel, featuring a blind psychiatrist, Mark Angelotti, who is helping Hallie Sanchez defend her oldest friend against murder charges. A muckraking journalist, Rory Gallagher, has died from a fatal dose of Lucitrol, a powerful antipsychotic drug and suspicion immediately falls on his longtime lover, Jane Barrett, who has just defended the drug’s manufacturer against product-liability claims. Mark and Hallie succeed in obtaining Barrett’s release, only to discover that Gallagher’s killer may still be on the loose and targeting them as his next victims. Angelotti was in Raimondo’s novel, “Dante’s Wood.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The author formerly was a general counsel for Arthur Anderson and later the Illinois Department of Revenue. Her background, combined with her talent, combine for a new novel that anyone who enjoys such intrigue and danger will enjoy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In J.T. Prescott’s thriller, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Arts and Crafts</b>, ($16.95, Two Harbors Press) a former covert operative. Ken Frazier, is looking forward to retirement after leaving the clandestine world behind is sought out by a former colleague, George Larson, and confronted with outrageous claims about a government conspiracy that includes major U.S. cities falling prey to snipers. Hesitant to believe the claims, he is suddenly thrust back into action when Larson shows up dead and the rumors turn out to be true. This is a fast-paced adventure, filled with conspiracy and murder, as Frazier’s experience and instincts kick in and he recruits the help of two members of his former team. Together they band together for one last desperate mission. In a somewhat similar theme, Johnny Shaw tells a story in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Plaster City </b>($14.95, Thomas and Mercer) of Jimmy Veeder who is enjoying life as a farmer and family man with occasional breaks to act as wingman to his best friend’s booze-fueled misadventures. When Bobby Maves teenage daughter does missing, Jimmy will be along for the rescue mission and what begins as a bad situation turns into something else entirely involving a violent turf war between a fierce motorcycle gang and a powerful crime lord, fighting it out on a desolate strip of desert known as Plaster City in the landscape of the California-Mexico borderland. Shaw’s previous novels received awards and his long career as a screenwriter and novelist demonstrate his skills. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for May! Tell your friends, family and coworkers who enjoy reading about Bookviews.com so they too any get the latest word about new fiction and non-fiction. And come back next month for more!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-17508246315795381842014-03-31T07:25:00.000-07:002014-03-31T07:25:36.811-07:00Bookviews -- April 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8F7G3q6AUtQ/UzhGm32NJpI/AAAAAAAANhQ/JtMt77gkFz4/s1600/Cover+-+Rule+of+Nobody.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8F7G3q6AUtQ/UzhGm32NJpI/AAAAAAAANhQ/JtMt77gkFz4/s1600/Cover+-+Rule+of+Nobody.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If there is no other book you read this year, read Philip K. Howard’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government </b>($23.95, W.W. Norton). If you have been wondering why those elected and appointed to public office do not seem able to do anything more than either pass more laws, add more regulations, or not be able to approve a public project such as a needed new bridge or run a business such as a nursing home without being subject to regulation that is so detailed they cannot provide simple, principled service, this book will explain why. As Howard says, “Government’s ineptitude is not news. But something else has happened in the last few decades. Government is making America inept. Other countries have modern infrastructure, and schools that generally succeed, and better health care at little more than half the cost.” This true is demonstrated in the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare—that was 2,700 pages when passed and has now generated regulations that when stacked stand seven foot high. “The U.S. is now ranked below a dozen or more countries in terms of ease of doing businesses and effective governance. These are our competitors in global markets.” Howard calls for a return to our founding values of individual responsibility and accountability. “This requires abandoning the utopian dream of automatic government and giving responsible officials—real people—the authority to make practical choices.” In 1994 Howard authored “The Death of Common Sense: How Law is suffocating America” and he’s back with a look at our present state of stagnation and retreat.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hhtkhgcq6XU/UzhG0S_MbXI/AAAAAAAANhc/FUuUri-7a3g/s1600/Cover+-+Deliberate+Corruption.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hhtkhgcq6XU/UzhG0S_MbXI/AAAAAAAANhc/FUuUri-7a3g/s1600/Cover+-+Deliberate+Corruption.png" height="200" width="130" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Here, too, is another book you should read if you have concluded that there is no global warming (the Earth has been in a natural cooling cycle since 1997) and that the dangers of climate change are the same ones that have existed for centuries, floods, blizzards, droughts, et cetera. Dr. Tim Ball has been among a number of climatologists and other scientists who have outspokenly resisted and exposed the lies behind the global warming hoax that asserts that carbon dioxide (CO2) is trapping so much heat that all manmade emissions of it must be curtailed. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science </b>($22.95, Stairway Press) Dr. Ball relates how initially he “watched my chosen discipline—climatology—get hijacked and exploited in service of a political agenda, watched people who knew little or nothing enter the fray and watched scientists become involved for political or funding reasons—willing to corrupt the science, or, at least, ignore what was really going on.” The global warming hoax was generated out of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and dates back to the mid to late 1980s. Dr. Ball calls it “the greatest deception in history and the extent of the damage has yet to be exposed and measured.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I have read dozens of books about the hoax and this one sums up everything you need to know even as the claims and deceptions continue at the highest levels of our government, the United Nations, and the media. This book is detailed, documented, footnoted, and very interesting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you want to know what really happened leading up to and in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, you should read Bob Ivry’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Seven Sins of Wall Street: Big Banks, Their Washington lackeys, and the Next Financial Crisis </b>($25.99, Public Affairs). Ivry is an editor and investigative reporter for Bloomberg News. The tendency is the think of any book about the business community, particularly banking, is likely to be rather dull, but this one is lively from page one and remains a surprisingly entertaining read even as its revelations scare the daylights out of you. For one thing, it is Joe Taxpayer who now guarantees the success of the top banks in America, all of whom were bailed out, paid back the hasty government loans they received, and then went on to make huge profits as the same banks foreclosed on countless homeowners penalized for the failure of the banks to put the brakes on thousands of “liar’s loans”, bundling and peddling them. As Ivry makes clear, the legacy of the financial crisis in 2008 isn’t stronger banks, but a weaker nation. We normally accord respect for the men at the top of the banking industry. They are often called “titans”, but the reality that Ivry reveals will have you calling them something else and the shenanigans since the crisis. Moreover, Ivry shows how the too-big-to-fail banks and their supporters in Washington, D.C., are getting closer to an even greater economic calamity. Neither they, nor their Washington facilitators in major agencies come off looking good and for good reason. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Living through what many feel is the second Great Depression, anyone who loves history will enjoy Bill Friedman’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">All Against the Law</b> ($17.99, $9.99, Old School Histories, hardcover and ebook, available from Amazon.com). Based on 47 years of research, it is filled with new information about more than a hundred major critics committed during the Great Depression era by bank robbers, the Mafia, FBI, politicians, along with the misdeeds of police detectives, prosecutors, and judges. Hard times tend to bring out the worst in people, particularly if they are inclined toward crime in the first place. Many from that era became legendary and include John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Alvin Karpis whose partner, Doc Barker, killed lawmen in multiple police escapes. It is also the story of the lawmen that pursued them. The FBI under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover gained fame during this period. Politics during the era is also described where it involved corruption, particularly that of the Kansas Penderast machine. It makes our current times pale by comparison.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gLu9vTnVdjk/UzhHpQOXb2I/AAAAAAAANhw/P6vN9D8eHyY/s1600/Cover+-+Age+of+Radiance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gLu9vTnVdjk/UzhHpQOXb2I/AAAAAAAANhw/P6vN9D8eHyY/s1600/Cover+-+Age+of+Radiance.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Having lived through the beginnings of the atomic age, I think a lot of readers who enjoy history will enjoy Craig Nelson’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Age </b>($29.99, Scribner). The Atomic age began with a past-his-prime German physicist working in his lab and continues to the present day with fears that reflect the failures in Chernobyl and Fukushima, as well as those of terrorists with dirty bombs. It began with discoveries of the nucleus by Marie Curie, Enrico Fermi, and Edward Teller. Craig brings nuclear energy into a modern context. While atomic energy provides electricity (all of France is powered by it) and includes its use for medical purposes, its invisible rays can trigger cancer. This is, however, the story of the people who discovered it and the issues it evoked. As a bomb it was used to end America’s war in the Pacific, but not used since. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The one thing that I do not review, with the exception of anthologies, is poetry. I grew up reading traditional poetry, the kind that rhymed and had a distinct cadence, but over the years many poets abandoned that form, treading close to prose. One who did it to great success was Maxine Kumin whom I met in the 1970s at an annual Bread Loaf Writers Conference where she was already a star. She had since won a Pulitzer Prize and was a U.S. poet laureate. She passed away in February.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">And Short the Season</b> ($24.95, W.W. Norton) is the final collection of her work. Though I still prefer traditional poetry, hers demonstrates how a poet can turn the ordinary into something extraordinary. While she will be missed by family, friends, and fans, her great body of work will live on. In contrast, death took Marina Keegan too early, shortly after she graduated magna cum laude from Yale in May 2012, but <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories </b>($23.00, Scribner) gives us the opportunity to enjoy a body of her writings; enough to make us wish that an auto accident had not taken her life. She was just twenty-two. Anyone who loves good writing will enjoy this collection. They reveal a great talent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Some books are so thoroughly amusing that they stand alone. That describes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Make Your Cat an Internet Celebrity: A Guide to Financial Freedom </b>by Patricia Carlin with photography by Dustin Fenstermacher ($12.95, Quirk Books, softcover) and it is a satire that offers tongue-in-cheek advice on how to turn your cat from just a pet that lays around a lot into your door to a fortune. Carlin purports to tell the reader how to identify their cat’s special talents, choose a stage name, film and edit a viral video, and more. Anyone who loves cats will find themselves laughing on every page while enjoying the many color photos. Also from Quirk Books comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back Part the Fifth </b>by Ian Doescher ($14.95) which is a merry reimaging of George Lucas’s classic film. If the film has been an Elizabethan play, this is how it would sound and for anyone who loves the former this is an entertaining way to enjoy it again. Quirk Books has definitely earned its name!<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I sometimes ask myself why a particular book was written and why a publisher thought it was worth publishing. This is what came to mind with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Mammoth Book of Shark Attacks </b>by Alex MaCormick and Rod Green ($14.95, Running Press). Going back to 1900 and moving forward to 2013, this is a collection of stories about shark attacks. They have made headlines that reflect our natural horror regarding such events. There surely are readers who will find this of interest and it will be thoroughly sated by this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">People, People, People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">We read about people of every description, selecting those who interest us. Memoirs, biographies and autobiographies are in a class of themselves. Here are some books that have arrived that illustrate a more general approach.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RGydNx-ea7Q/UzhJN6hXG4I/AAAAAAAANiY/IgZKKreLDr0/s1600/Cover+-+Shooting+Stars.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RGydNx-ea7Q/UzhJN6hXG4I/AAAAAAAANiY/IgZKKreLDr0/s1600/Cover+-+Shooting+Stars.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Let’s start with a fun, lighthearted book about what it’s like to be a Hollywood paparazzi and, more specifically, how Jennifer Buhl became one. She writes about that in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shooting Stars: My Unexpected Life Photographing Hollywood’s Most Famous </b>($14.99, Sourcebooks, softcover). She has a lively style and begins by telling of her realization that she could make a lot more as a photographer with one good celebrity photo than she could waiting tables as she was doing the day she witnessed Paris Hilton being protected by her entourage amidst a gang of paparazzi. After that it was a question of learning the business. Along the way she made the acquaintance with many of today’s celebrities. Despite the money and fame, she makes it clear that the downside of celebrity is being hunted by the paparazzi. It’s a lifestyle most of us would not want.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Villains, Scoundrels, and Rogues: Incredible True Tales of Mischief and Mayhem</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> is one of those titles that tells you everything you need to know about its subject. Paul Martin ($18.95, Prometheus Books) has brought together stories about folks you may not have heard of, but who played a role in history or literature. Take, for example, the drunken cop who abandoned his post at Ford’s theatre, given assassin John Wilkes Booth access to Lincoln. How about a notorious Kansas quack who made million implanting goat testicles in gullible male patients? Or America’s worst female serial killer ever? Or Ed Gein, Alfred Hitchcock’s inspiration for “Psycho”? Thirty brief biographies offer an entertaining look at some unforgettable characters, especially for anyone who enjoys history. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you like true crime stories, you will like <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Rookie Cop Vs The West Coast Mafia </b>by William G. Palmini, Jr. and Tanya Chalpupa ($24.95. New Horizon Press, softcover) which is just out this month. Palmini was a rookie detective who began a crusade to take down the West Coast Mafia by gaining the confidence of a notorious mob operative, William Floyd Ettleman. When he and his gang, skilled safe crackers, set out to rob a popular Sausalito restaurant, the Trident, a one-time mecca for Hollywood, the music industry, and New York gang members, Palmini determined to bring them to justice. He was joined by the FBI and, with the aid of an informant, they were able to bring put an end to their crime. From the same publisher comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Deadly Vows: The True Story of a Zealous Preacher, a Polygamous Union and a Savage Murder </b>($24.95) by Leif M. Wright. It is the story of Joy Risker’s gruesome death at the hand of Pentecostal preacher, Sean Goff. He had been the author’s best friend for 16 years, during which time he weaved a tangled web of deceptions, religion and polygamy in his life and marriage to multiple women, one of which was Risker. Rather than losing his youngest wife when she wanted to continue her education and have a career, Goff set about to commit the perfect crime. After killing her, he took the body miles into the Arizonan desert and used knowledge of forensics from television to ensure it could not be identified. That changed when a couple came upon a stack of lava rocks and notices a foul odor. Reported missing in October 2003, Goff would turn himself in and confess. As is often the case, truth is stranger than fiction.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-54JGmLCplZo/UzhHJMsyN8I/AAAAAAAANhg/E8QlWQ17txs/s1600/Cover+-+Zero+Six+Bravo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-54JGmLCplZo/UzhHJMsyN8I/AAAAAAAANhg/E8QlWQ17txs/s1600/Cover+-+Zero+Six+Bravo.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Due out next month, Damien Lewis’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Zero Six Bravo </b>($26.99, Quercus, an imprint of Random House) tells the story of a British Special Forces Squadron that were accused of running away from the enemy, but the true story of sixty men who, in March 2003, 600 miles behind enemy lines, accomplished the extraordinary, the surrender of the 100,000-strong Iraqi Army 5<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Corps. Their mission was so dangerous that it was known as “Operation No Return” and they encountered an ambush by thousands of Saddam Hussein’s Fedayeen, backed by the Corps’ heavy armor. M Squadron should not have survived, but their courage got them through and this story will rivet anyone interested in military history. Our military is in our thoughts these days as the Obama administration seeks to reduce its budget to pre-World War Two levels. We honor them for their service and for their sacrifice, but a new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Trust Betrayed</b> by Mike Magner ($27.50, Da Capo Press) tells the story of the Marines who were stationed at Camp Lejeune a few decades ago, thousands of whom suffered serious illnesses including lymphoma while their children suffered birth defects as the result of the failure of the Corps to take action when it became clear that the water they were drinking was contaminated. There were miscarriages and babies died. This is an ugly chapter in our history and the book argues for compensation for the victims. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The biography of a gifted baseball pitcher, Bill Denehy, is told in cooperation with Peter Golenbock in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rage </b>($16.95, Central Recovery Press). He was at the top of his game with the New York Mets until he threw a pitch that changed the course of his life. It was a life shaped by his bad temper that would cost him many opportunities. He had had an injury-plagued career, but would ultimately loose his vision due to injections used to keep him in the game. After that he would descend into addiction, but find recovery. His experience will resonate with athletes, baseball fans and others who struggle with addiction. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A very different story is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics </b>($25.95, Prometheus Books) by Nancy Forbes and Basil Mahon. It is the story of two of the boldest and most creative scientists, separated in age by forty years, discovered the existence of the electromagnetic field and devised a radical new theory that overturned the strictly mechanical view of the world that had prevailed since Newton’s time, centuries earlier. It is a lively narrative. Faraday who had no mathematical training rose from being a bookbinder’s apprentice to become director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Maxwell was regarded as one of the most brilliant mathematical physicists of the age. Their theory would join Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and gave rise to many of the technological innovations we take for granted today—from electric power generation to television, satellites, and cell phones, among many others. Anyone with an interest in science will enjoy this excellent book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 2.75in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting Down to Business Books<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 2.75in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Power </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Sarah Morgans and Bill Thorness ($19.95, Fenwick Publishing Group, softcover) is the story of how J.D. Power III became the auto industry’s advisor, confessor, and eyewitness to history. His award for consumer satisfaction is highly valued by auto manufacturers. It began when Dave Power founded his company in 1968 to aid auto makers understand the value of listening to consumers’ preferences and complaints. It changed the industry. The book tells the story of Power and those who worked most closely with him. The book is hailed by many industry leaders such as Akio Toyoda and the former chairman and CEO of General Motors, Rick Wagoner. </span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cwqb7Tei9Oc/UzhHZt-_IiI/AAAAAAAANhs/23Ku5SPBGz4/s1600/Cover+-+Coach+Wooden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cwqb7Tei9Oc/UzhHZt-_IiI/AAAAAAAANhs/23Ku5SPBGz4/s1600/Cover+-+Coach+Wooden.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 2.75in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Success is measured and achieved in different ways and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Coach Wooden’s Greatest Secret: The Power of a Lot of Little Things Done Well </b>by Pat Williams with Jim Denney ($16.99, Revell, softcover) looks at why Coach Wooden became one of college basketball’s most revered coaches. His years at UCLA are testimony to that with ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period, including seven in a row, a fear unmatched by any other coach. Pat Williams has more than fifty years of professional sports experience and is the author of dozens of books. He tells how Wooden taught his players every aspect of the game including how to put on their socks and shoes to avoid blisters. When asked, he said that little things matter. Williams takes Coach Wooden’s lesson, along with stories of people whose lives have exemplified the importance of little things one does or doesn’t do that affect one’s integrity, reputation, health, career, faith and success. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 2.75in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Carol Liefer was a successful comedian at a time when television comedy was an exclusive all-boy’s club. Part memoir, part guide to life, and very funny, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying: Lessons from a Life in Comedy </b>($19.95, Quirk, softcover) is a collection of essays that charts here three-decade journal through show business that provides valuable lessons for women and men in any profession. How good was she? She was an opening act for Frank Sinatra. Leifer is a four-time Emmy nominee for her writing on such shows as Seinfeld, Modern Family, Saturday Night Live, and the Larry Sanders Show. She has starred in five of her own comedy specials. Happily she is still active these days and her book will is both entertaining and instructive.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Joy of Eating<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of life’s great joys is eating. People love cookbooks and reading about various aspects of dining.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Let’s start with a favorite of everyone, maple syrup. It is the subject of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Sugar Season: A Year in the Life of Maple Syrup—And One Family’s Quest for the Sweetest Harvest </b>by Douglas Whynott ($24.99, Da Capo Press). Like many I do not give much thought to where the syrup comes from, just that I have a bottle on hand to pour some over pancakes. This book introduces the reader to entrepreneur Bruce Bascom whose family business, Bascom Farms, produces 80,000 gallons of sap a day. Whynott takes us through one tumultuous season as we learn the art of the boil, the myriad subtle flavors of syrup, and the process by which syrup is assigned a grade. You will discover that maple syrup is a multimillion dollar industry, one that contains a black market, was subject to a heist monitored by Homeland Security, and an OPEC-like organization called The Federation—which is fitting since a barrel of maple syrup is worth more than a barrel of oil! <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5qV3JP82nhY/UzhIJqZzfVI/AAAAAAAANh8/PEE0Va7sges/s1600/Cover+-+Almonds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5qV3JP82nhY/UzhIJqZzfVI/AAAAAAAANh8/PEE0Va7sges/s1600/Cover+-+Almonds.jpg" height="200" width="159" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Two other Da Capo books are devoted to food. If you like almonds, you will love <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Almonds Every Which Way</b> by Brooke McClay ($18.99, softcover). Almonds have become a key ingredient in vegan, Paleo, glutan-free, low-carp, and alternative diets as a substitute for grain flours and dairy. Almonds, we learn, can reduce heart attack risk, lower bad cholesterol, help build strong bones and teeth, and aid in regulating blood sugar and insulin after meals. And I like them because they taste good! McClay takes one on a tour of every meal of the day with more than 150 almond flour, almond milk, and almond butter-based recipes. You don’t have to be a vegan to enjoy this book, but if you are one, check out <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mayim’s Vegan Table </b>by Mayim Bialik with Dr. Jay Gordon, a pediatrician ($21.99, softcover). As she notes, getting kids to eat their vegetables can be tough enough, but getting them to eat an exclusively plant-based diet can seem impossible, especially when you want them to take a pass on cheese pizza, hot dogs, and other popular food items. She provides more than a hundred recipes along with chapters that address the principles of vegan nutrition for growing bodies. If her name sounds familiar it is because Mayim Bialik is an Emmy-nominated actress who stars on The Big Bang Theory. She is also a Ph.D. and trained neuroscientist, and the mother of two sons.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Advice </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There is no end to books with advice on every imaginable topic. Here are a few that run the gamut.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LBPRMng8kB4/UzhIdB7KcsI/AAAAAAAANiA/LUlsOssN_AA/s1600/Cover+-+Mindful+Anger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LBPRMng8kB4/UzhIdB7KcsI/AAAAAAAANiA/LUlsOssN_AA/s1600/Cover+-+Mindful+Anger.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Mindful Anger: A Pathway to Emotional Freedom</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">is by Andrea Brandt, a Ph.D. with more than thirty years of working with individuals, couples, groups, and children, all of whom seeking help with emotional issues that include anger and aggression ($22.95, W.W. Norton). As we know, anger can be especially destructive to one’s relationships and interfere with achieving one’s goals. When expressed as rage or aggression, it can land you in jail. “There isn’t an area of our lives—relationships, careers, health—that wouldn’t improve with the proper handling of our anger,” says the author. A pioneer in the field of anger management, her book is a guide to making the kind of self-assessments and identifying the causes that generate anger and thereby finding ways to reduce and control it. If you know a constantly angry person, this would make a good gift for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another psychological problem that men in particular encounter is borderline personality disorder. It causes them to have extreme difficulty regulating their emotions. Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hard to Love: Understanding and overcoming Male Borderline Personality Disorder </b>($15.95, Central Recovery Press, softcover.) It is due out in May. Interestingly, it is frequently misdiagnosed in men, leading to no treatment or the wrong treatment. This book will </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />help any man examine if BPD is the problem he is experiencing. Such men are difficult, but not impossible to love says Dr. Robert Doyle, an assistant medical director at Harvard Medical School’s McLean Child and Adolescent Impatient Union.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For the gals, there’s a delightful, very funny book by Jenny McCarthy, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth about Pregnancy and Childbirth </b>($13.99, Da Capo Press, softcover). The co-host of “The View”, is also an actress, mother, and a former Playboy playmate. She dishes about prenatal cravings, leg cramps, fainting spells, and all the other experiences that go with becoming a mother with the frankness and humor for which she has become known. And despite the various challenges a woman must engage to give birth, she says “Welcome to the best job you will ever have, mommyhood.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 77.4pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Kid Stuff<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 77.4pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Every so often a really outstanding book comes along for younger readers. U.S. history is something every American should read, but it is no secret that our schools are not doing a good job of teaching it. When a book like <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">World War I for Kids </b>comes along, it offers an opportunity that a parent should embrace. Written by R. Kent Rasmussen ($17.95, Chicago Review Press, softcover) it is a comprehensive look at a chapter in American history of which many adults are unaware, but WWI was a major turning point in the last century for Americans and, as we know, it set the stage for WWII that started within twenty years. Americans were reluctant to participate in either and did so when provoked by attacks such as the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 that took the lives of many American passengers. Extensive illustrations enhance an excellent text that tells of how the war stimulated technological development as well as changing the way wars had been fought. It became far more lethal. Younger readers from age 10 and up will find this book an exciting look at the event, the people involved, and the activities it invites them to do. In truth, an adult can read this book with as much enjoyment. The For Kids series also offers <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">World War II for Kids </b>and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Civil War for Kids. </b><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Last month I noted a number of new books from <a href="http://www.charlesbridge.com/">Charlesbridge</a> Publishing and I will continue this month.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Kids get a head start on school if they get to read books that introduce them to the alphabet and numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Teddy Bear Addition </b>by Barbara Bardieri McGrath ($16.95) uses images by Tim Nihoff of teddy bears to entertain and educate at the same time. It’s lively verse takes the reader through the basics while they learn important vocabulary such as sums and digits. Once the basics are acquired, it’s time to move onto learning about fractions and that is made easy and fun in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fractions in Disguise </b>by Edward Einhorn with illustrations by David Clark ($16.95) that features George Cornelius Factor who loves fractions so much he collects them. I take my hat off to authors that understand how young minds can absorb these things through stories and artwork. If read by an adult to a child or those age 4 to 8, these books open doors early in their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I confess I never expected to be reading a children’s book about dung beetles, but then I forgot how almost any creature can capture the imagination of young readers. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Behold the Beautiful Dung Beetle </b>by Cheryl Bardoe and illustrated by Alan Marks ($16.95) is for the early reader and one who finds nature of interest. It’s not disgusting, despite what they collect and dine upon, but rather an interesting introduction to the ecology of how everything serves some purpose and how this beetle is a perfect adaptation to take advantage of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9toPJ0UXWK0/UzhItuE5tRI/AAAAAAAANiI/9Ia4F8q8KWQ/s1600/Cover+-+Stone+Giant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9toPJ0UXWK0/UzhItuE5tRI/AAAAAAAANiI/9Ia4F8q8KWQ/s1600/Cover+-+Stone+Giant.jpg" height="200" width="155" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Three Charlesbridge books provide interesting reading for early readers ages 9 to 12. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">At Home in Her Tomb: Lady Dai and the Ancient Chinese Treasures of Mawangdui </b>($19.95) by Christine Liu Perkins and Sarah S. Brannen tells of how, in December 1971, the tomb of Xin Zhui, the Marchioness of Dai, was discovered. It revealed the almost perfectly preserved body of Lady Dai. The book will transport back to an earlier age in China and the amazing archeology and forensic science that revealed much about her. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stone Giant: Michelangelo’s David and How He Came to Be </b>by Jane Sutcliffe and illustrated by John Shelley ($16.95) tells the story of how the genius of Michaelangelo turned a giant block of marble into one of the greatest works of art from a statue others had tried to create, but failed. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From Under the Freedom Tree </b>by Susan VanHecke and illustrated by London Ladd ($16.95) tells the story of how, on the night of May 23, 1861, three slaves made history when they decided to escape across the Confederate line to the Union-held Fort Monroe. Declared “contraband of war” by the Union General, they were allow to stay and as word of their successful escape spread, thousands of runaway slaves followed suit, pouring into the fort and building the first African-American community in the country. It was under the branches of a sheltering tree that they heard one of the first readings of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">From Wigu Publishing comes another in their series “When I Grow Up I Want to Be…” It is devoted to being a firefighter ($12.95) and begins with a boy whose field trip to a local fire station introduces him to the exciting world of firefighting, as well as home fire safety, in a fun and educational book. Upcoming books will include being in the U.S. Navy, a veterinarian, and even a race car driver. Check out the series at </span><a href="http://www.whenigrowupbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.WhenIGrowUpBooks.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I have no idea how many novels are being published these days, but there are thousands of them. I stick to the established publishing houses with regard to those I recommend though I will occasionally recommend one that is self-published, a trend that is growing. All those noted are softcover editions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wZNfQ3k8vC4/UzhI-1qJZRI/AAAAAAAANiQ/p63q-y0en-A/s1600/Cover+-+Lexicon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wZNfQ3k8vC4/UzhI-1qJZRI/AAAAAAAANiQ/p63q-y0en-A/s1600/Cover+-+Lexicon.jpg" height="200" width="134" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Max Barry has written one of the most curious novels I’ve seen in a long time. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lexicon</b> ($16.00, Penguin Books) It ranges between thrilling, horrifying, and hilarious as a fast, funny, cerebral thriller. Imagine an exclusive school somewhere outside of Arlington, VA where students aren’t taught the usual subjects, but rather the skills of persuasion. Their teachers are a secretive organization of “poets”, elite manipulators of language who can wield words as weapons and bend others to their will. Emily Ruff is running a three-card Monte game on the streets of San Francisco when this orphan is spotted by the organization’s recruiters. When admitted to the school she becomes its most talented prodigy until she makes a big mistake; she falls in love. There is a subplot that is just as unique, involving rival factions of the “poets.” As the two narratives converge, the shocking work of the poets is revealed. I shall say no more! Another novel offers a comparable narrative about a future in which the world’s social order is near collapses and children are abducted for genetic enhancement to become super fighters. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Devereaux Disaster </b>($16.95, Two Harbors Press) the son of retired secret-agent Jeremiah Jones has been abducted. Five years have passed and he is determined to rescue him. Soon after his arrival on the Moon, his mission turns sour. He discovered that while Joshua’s body is near perfect, his mind has been poisoned to hate and destroy. With his fellow cadets, they have a mission to attack specific targets on Earth to unite its warring nations<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">. </b>Suffice to say this is a most unusual science fiction novel and one that means Jeremiah can only save the world if his son and fellow cadets are destroyed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Catholic church has been in the news for its failure to respond to the problem of priests who abuse children and a novel by Gregory Alexander, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Holy Mark: The Tragedy of a Fallen Priest </b>($14.99, Mill City Press) takes on this issue as it delves deep into the psyche of a man whose reprehensible acts are perhaps only surpassed by those intent on destroying him. It is a psychologically compelling novel of family, power, and revenge. The author brings insight to the subject having taught English at several Catholic schools in New Orleans. For those who love an old-fashioned mystery, they will welcome news that Johnny Shaw is back. His 2011 novel, “Dove Season” won the Spotted Owel Award for a debut mystery and now he’s returned with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Plaster City </b>($14.95, Thomas &amp; Mercer). Set in California’s Imperial Valley, it’s another raucous caper starring Jimmy Veeder and his best friend Bobby Maves from his earlier novel. Jimmy has settled into a steady life as a farmer and family man, but when Bobby’s teenage daughter goes missing, the two launch their own investigation only to end up in the middle of a violent turf war between a fierce motorcycle gang and a powerful crime lord fighting it out on a desolate strip of desert known as Plaster City. It’s a big-hearted escape that establishes Shaw as a novelist to watch and read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I love a good title and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Six Months of September</b> ($10.00, available from Amazon.com and other outlets) surely qualifies as eye-catching. Mark Allen gives us Duncan Walsh, a former reporter who has struck up a friendship with tour guide Agnes, a beautiful college student working at the Chicago Museum of Natural History. When she disappears he makes national news and Duncan decides to launch his own investigation. With the help of his best friend, Luis, and Agnes’s boyfriend, James, the search is on. James’ father is a Chicago Police Commander, This is already working on the second installment in the Duncan Walsh detective series and you will enjoy going along as he and his friends uncover secrets and discover who is working hard to conceal them in this debut. Allen is a graduate of the University of Illinois in Urban and the John Marshall School of Law in Chicago, so he knows the territory of which he writes. The pace never slackens.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">That’s it for April. Come back in May as I can guarantee you that many new books are on the way. And tell your book loving friends, family and co-workers about Bookviews.com so they too can learn about many fine books that do not necessarily get the attention they should.</span></b></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div></b><br /></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-72873897251010275422014-02-28T09:41:00.000-08:002014-03-03T10:15:09.516-08:00Bookviews - March 2014<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_fENAATSSxs/UwpHouXyyYI/AAAAAAAANRc/na_BPphD8mE/s1600/Cover+-+Marriage+and+Civilization.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_fENAATSSxs/UwpHouXyyYI/AAAAAAAANRc/na_BPphD8mE/s1600/Cover+-+Marriage+and+Civilization.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">When the U.S. Justice Department announces it will not enforce the Defense of Marriage Act you know that same-sex marriage has the full support of the White House. An interesting new book by William Tucker, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Marriage and Civilization: How Monogamy Made Us Human</b>, ($27.95, Regnery) takes a look at monogamy and how its adoption by societies in the West made all the difference in their development as opposed to those that retained polygamy. Monogamy contributed to less aggressive societies, ones with less crime, less internal friction, and humanity benefitted from men who took a greater role in raising children. Spousal relationship benefitted because they were more devoted to one another. The story of humanity has been one of growing trust and cooperation between the sexes and this has led to more stable communities and nation. Every human society has created some form of marriage. Not only do a couple pledge fidelity to each other, it draws the line between the bonded couple and the group. Tucker says that everywhere polygamy is practiced, it creates conflict. There is much to be said for traditional marriage and its history and practice is presented in this book.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nRJi8SwjKZ8/UwpHx-PTY7I/AAAAAAAANRo/DYs3RE50VEc/s1600/Cover+-+The+Great+Withdrawal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nRJi8SwjKZ8/UwpHx-PTY7I/AAAAAAAANRo/DYs3RE50VEc/s1600/Cover+-+The+Great+Withdrawal.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Craig R. Smith has written seven books individually and, with Lowell Ponte, another five. These books look at economic and governmental issues with a particular emphasis on the way progressivism has undermined the dollar and the ability of the nation to achieve and maintain our remarkable leadership in manufacturing and in finance. That is beginning to falter and you will want to read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Great Withdrawal: How the Progressives’ 100-Year Debasement of American and the Dollar Ends</b> ($19.95, Idea Factory Press, Phoenix, AZ). Far from being a dry analysis, it is a dramatic examination of what is happening in America today and why. The book opens with a look at Detroit, the largest American city to declare bankruptcy and why decades of bad management and corruption have led to its debasement. This is happening in many cities across the nation led by progressives. These cities build huge ranks of government workers with ample pension and other benefits that thrive off of the middle class until it begins to move to the suburbs to escape the ever rising taxes and other costs. In addition to the $17 trillion in debt on the books, the U.S. has off-the-balance-sheet federal liabilities estimated to be at least $87 trillion. The trillions pumped into the economy in recent years have largely been wasted via crony capitalism or simply failed to “stimulate” growth. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Your life and that of your children and grandchildren are being affected.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5u96RicChI0/UwpIMSuN3uI/AAAAAAAANRs/HX5wszVCInE/s1600/Cover+-+United+America.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5u96RicChI0/UwpIMSuN3uI/AAAAAAAANRs/HX5wszVCInE/s1600/Cover+-+United+America.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In a nation that appears to be seriously divided, we owe Dr. Wayne Baker, the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">United America </b>($15.25, Spirit Books, @ Amazon.com, softcover) a debt of appreciation for a book about “The surprising truth about American values, American identity, and the 10 beliefs that a large majority of Americans hold dear.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Dr. Baker is the chair of the Management &amp; Organizations area at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and his book is based on his research over several years. The values American share include respect for others, freedom, security, self-reliance and individualism, justice and fairness, among others. They are shared by a vast cross-section of Americans of differing political outlooks, gender, and other elements. These values are strongly held. The book is not some boring academic study, but a lively examination of the values and one that will be of use to individual readers as well as educators and groups devoted to preserving the nation that is suffering the deliberate effort to divide Americans by class, sex, and other attributes. I recommend this book for anyone concerned about the current divisions we hear and read about daily. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 177.0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IkXG9xFV7Tk/UwpIUMf0tBI/AAAAAAAANR4/3dWhYPIFVRA/s1600/Cover+-+HRC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IkXG9xFV7Tk/UwpIUMf0tBI/AAAAAAAANR4/3dWhYPIFVRA/s1600/Cover+-+HRC.jpg" height="200" width="134" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Fans of Hillary Clinton with an eye on the 2016 elections will find <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton </b>by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes ($26.00, Crown Publishing) of interest as these two journalists, the former who covers the White House for Bloomberg News and the latter for The Hill, look back over the past years since 2008 when her political ambitions took a hit from an unknown Illinois Senator when he was became the Democratic Party nominee for President and won. In the six years since then, she has reemerged on the world stage as one of its most influential figures. She is now regarded as the front-runner for the Democratic ticket in 2016 and this book provides a look at what they regard as a master strategist at work. She would become Obama’s Secretary of State and one of his greatest allies and advocates. While the authors report both her successes and stumbles, based on numerous interviews, take the reader behind the scenes. Both hold her in high regard and this book provides readers with their coverage and views of the decisions she made and their likely effect on the next national elections. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A book that is likely to generate a lot of discussion is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business</b> by Christopher Leonard ($28.00, Simon &amp; Schuster). I must confess I was astonished to learn that when you’re buying beef, pork or chicken, it turns out that four beef companies control 85% of the national market while four companies control 65% of the park. As Leonard points out, forty years ago there were 36 companies that produced chicken, but now there are two that provide half of the chicken we eat, controlling every aspect of the process from the egg to the chicken to the chicken nugget. The result is that meat prices relentlessly increase while the share of every dollar that goes to farmers is falling. The profit margins of the nation’s biggest meat packers continue to rise even as the national economy is lagging in other sectors. The Big Four, Tyson, Cargill, JSB, and Smithfield saw their average profit margin double between 2008 and 2009, and then double again between 2009 and 2010. Why the federal government felt it necessary to send millions to these and other farmers in “farm aid” begins to raise serious questions for consumers and 80% of the farm bill was devoted to funding food stamps. Anyone interested in how this sector of the economy functions will find this book very interesting and just a tad scary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of my enduring childhood memories was riding the train to the New Jersey shore where my grandparents lived and, since it was the war years, I recall visiting with the many young soldiers who were on the train, all destined for combat. At my grandparent’s home, the trains came by every day and it was a treat to wave at the engineers and have them wave back. Trains in those days belched huge clouds of black smoke. These memories were evoked by Tom Zoellner’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Train</b>, ($32.95, Viking) in which he tells of his rail travels around the world, starting in the birthplace of the locomotive in England. He shares the history of trains in the various nations he visits from Russia, China, India, in South America and, of course, the U.S. where the train transformed and expanded the nation to the West. Along the way he talked with many others on those trains and gains a glimpse into their lives. He does so with a gift for prose that borders on poetry. He is a very good writer and that greatly enhances the trips he invites the reader to take with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Readers are just as frequently writers and many wish to polish their skills. A book that will help them is Natalie Goldberg’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The True Secret of Writing: Connecting Life with Language </b>($16.00, Atria Books, softcover) in which she draws on her four decades as a teacher and writer to share her practical experience. She has written twelve books and this one will prove helpful to anyone who wants to learn how to tap into their own life. For anyone headed for college this fall or attending one, Halley Bondy has written an entertaining book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">77 Things You Absolutely Have to Do Before You Finish College </b>($14.99, Zest Books, softcover). A great gift for high school grads and college students, it is filled with ideas that will surely enhance the experience beyond the classroom. Among her tips are starting an on-campus club, learn how to prepare a perfect meal, and learn self-defense. There’s bound to be a recommendation in the book that a student will find worth trying out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting Down to Business (Books)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those coming out of college and looking toward a career in the world of business, Robert L. Dilenschneider provides a lot of good advice in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Critical First Years of Your Professional Life </b>($15.00, Citadel Kensington, softcover). The author made his name in the field of public relations, but has found time to author a dozen advice books. This one includes a foreword by TV business news host, Maria Bartiromo, who notes that “Mobility, personal and professional, has dramatically increased” and that “Technology has created new opportunities for advancement in the world of work.” Dilenschneider recalls an era when mentors helped the newcomer learn the ropes. His book “substitutes for all those generous men and women who would have helped you in an earlier era.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>If you or someone you know is just starting out, make sure they read his book. It will give them an advantage of those who do not.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">These are nervous times for investors, but there are some fundamentals and Timothy F. McCarthy, a former president of Charles Schwab &amp; Company before leading overseas asset management companies. His book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Safe Investor: How to Make Your Money Grow in a Volatile Global Economy</b> ($30.00, Palgrave Macmillan) should be your first investment whether you are just starting out or whether you are questioning your present investment program. Despite the plethora of investment information available, most people feel uncomfortable to some degree these days. This book shows the reader how to mesh three dimensions of investing, asset classes, countries, and time to create a strategy that will ensure they have enough to get them through their retirement years. Since many have others manage their investments, McCarthy tells readers what they need to know to make a good choice and what to expect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>There are so many choices an investor can make that it is surely helpful to understand one’s own psyche before putting money on the line and that is what Brian Portnoy’s new book is all about. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Investor’s Paradox: The Power of Simplicity in a World of Overwhelming Choice </b>($27,00, Palgrave Macmillan) is the work of a man who has been advising hedge funds and mutual funds for the past 14 years. Portnoy is currently the Head of Alternative Investments and Strategic Initiatives for Chicago Equity Partners, a $10 billion asset manager and he came to them with an impressive resume so the reader can be confident he really knows what he is writing about. He addresses how to select the right money managers and investment vehicles and how to avoid the losers. With literally tens of thousands of investment choices, his advice and insights regarding what he calls behavioral finance, he demystifies the opaque world of financial entities, providing practical tools for investment success.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">All of us have sat through too many meetings that had no structure and did not lead others in the room toward successful cooperation. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moments of Impact: How to Design Strategic Conversations that Accelerate Change</b> ($32.00, Simon and Schuster) authors Chris Ertel and Lisa Kay Solomon are on a mission to eradicate time-sucking, energy-depleting meetings and workshops, and replace them with high-engagement strategic conversations that foster better cooperation. Their book offers a few core principles on the best ways to get an organization facing a high-stakes challenge to address it despite conditions of uncertainty using inter-active problem-solving sessions that engage participants, not just analytically, but creatively and emotionally as well. This book will help leaders at all levels achieve this whether it is a business challenge, educators and healthcare practitioners mired in slow-to-change sectors, or enterprising business school students with ambitions to tackle the big challenges. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E2Ozjsw2J1Y/UwpI1OGocpI/AAAAAAAANR8/8XAstB1mz_I/s1600/Cover+-+Show+and+Tell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E2Ozjsw2J1Y/UwpI1OGocpI/AAAAAAAANR8/8XAstB1mz_I/s1600/Cover+-+Show+and+Tell.jpg" height="200" width="196" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those who have to make a presentation, the first problem to overcome is the “jitters”, the fear of not being able sell ideas by using visual thinking. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Show and Tell: How Everybody Can Make Extraordinary Presentations </b>Dan Roam ($27.95, Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin) presents a powerful guide to give everyone the confidence they need to share their story with any audience. Roam has previously authored two international bestsellers and this book is relatively short, but goes right to the core of how to help others see what we see. Filled with page after page of illustrations, he demonstrates how to entertain, educate and motivate an audience. He has worked with major corporations and his book will show you how to achieve the success that he has had. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There isn’t an industry, business or enterprise of any kind that doesn’t have associations. There are an estimated 100,000 professional and trade societies that can help anyone open the doors to their personal success. Robert Skrob, CPA, CAE, is an expert and he has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Your Association Shortcut: The Definitive Guide for Generating Customers Through Associations </b>($7.86, Association Marketing, softcover). This book, officially published in April, but available now via Amazon.com, will teach you how find associations in your field and to select the best ones for your brand. Then he teaches how to get the most value from your association. He has coached a diverse range of associations including some of the largest in the world in fields that include medical, manufacturing, chambers of commerce, from the local to the state and national levels. And he has helped thousands of companies tap into the power of associations to generate customers for their own business. “Associations are the affiliate partner you never knew you had, promoting your company as a member benefit” says Skkrob, “Plus association marketing gives you more credibility as everything you do carries the implied endorsement of the association.” As someone who has provided public relations services to associations over the years, this is a book you definitely should read. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">To Your Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">We now live in times when you’re not old until you have gotten passed 70 or so. Maintaining one’s health to ensure that the senior years are not beleaguered by ill health has become a significant concern. That’s why books like Robert Moroney’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Total Body Detoxification: The Way to Healthy Aging </b>($16.95, Swing-Hi Press, softcover) is well worth reading even if you are still in your early years. The author details his own battles with lung cancer and hepatitis that causes stress and addictions to alcohol and drugs. Then he shows, step by step, the research, modalities, and healing regimens he employed to help himself and others recover from physically and mentally debilitating conditions. He’s been in private practice for 16 years as a nutritionist and peak-performance coach. As someone who has taken vitamins and minerals to enhance my own health, there is much in this book that will benefit any readers. You can avoid the toxins and you were learn which ones and why.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PjHZRuZsS2E/UwpJN5_VrAI/AAAAAAAANSI/1lWH0KL7TXg/s1600/Cover+-+Healthy+Joints+for+Life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PjHZRuZsS2E/UwpJN5_VrAI/AAAAAAAANSI/1lWH0KL7TXg/s1600/Cover+-+Healthy+Joints+for+Life.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Healthy Joints for Life </b>by Dr. Richard Diana, MD, ($17.95, Harlequin, softcover) an orthopedic surgeon and a clinical instructor at the Yale School of Medicine was a former National Football League player and he uses that experience and his later profession to learn how to deal with problems involving inflammation, a common joint ailment. He has put his plan to reduce pain and inflammation, how to avoid surgery, and to get moving again into his book. Having been named a Top 100 Doctor, he has been an orthopedic consultant to several collegiate athletic programs, as well as the Boston Red Sox.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>His book provides a proven 8-week program that can help any reader with joint-related physical ailments.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Biographies and Memoirs<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Reading about the lives of real people, past and present, is an excellent way to not only learn the lessons of history, but to learn how others coped with the challenges of their times.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hfDJi7K5L7Y/UwpJccekXWI/AAAAAAAANSM/fm1mhxA8YU0/s1600/Cover+-+Americans+First+Power+Couple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hfDJi7K5L7Y/UwpJccekXWI/AAAAAAAANSM/fm1mhxA8YU0/s1600/Cover+-+Americans+First+Power+Couple.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A new look at James and Dolly Madison is provided by Bruce Chadwick in a biography of the same name, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">America’s First Power Couple: James &amp; Dolly Madison </b>($24.95, Prometheus Books) regarding the fourth President’s service and the role that his wife played. Historians have tended to regard Madison, credited with much of the creation of the Constitution, as a boring, average President, while others have regarded him as a vibrant, tough leaders and a very successful commander in chief during the War of 1812. A new portrait emerges as the result of recently uncovered troves of letters at the University of Virginia, among other sources. He credits a lot of Madison’s success to the political savvy of his much younger wife whose social skills created a dynamic role for the position of First Lady with parties and backdoor politicking. This makes for lively reading about a couple whose life together contributed much to the future course of the nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">We remember F. Scott Fitzgerald for his book, “The Great Gatsby.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of the Great Gatsby</b>, ($29.95, Penguin Press) Sarah Churchill takes us back to the autumn of 1922 when he was at the height of his fame for “Tales of the Jazz Age.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>His return to New York that year coincided with another event, the discovery of a brutal double murder in New Jersey, an unsolved case that is all but forgotten today. The news coverage of the event, however, would influence Fitzgerald who began writing “Gatsby” in the autumn of that year. He would write of his fictional characters, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">An interesting memoir by Tony Cointreau, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ethel Merman, Mother Teresa…And Me: My Improbable Journey from Chateaux in France to the Slums of Calcutta </b>($24.95, Prospecta Press) is the story of a life of a man who was an heir to the French liqueur family who enjoyed a successful international singing career and, after several years on the Cointreau board of directors, found himself seeking something more meaningful for his life. Despite the wealth and success, his youth was impacted by an emotionally remote mother, an angry bullying brother, a cold and unprotective Swiss nurse, and a sexually predatory school teacher, all of which led him on a lifelong quest for unconditional love and for a mother figure. Initially he found her in the internationally acclaimed beauty, Lee Lehman, and then the famed Broadway diva, Ethel Merman, who became his mentor and “other mother.” His memoir addresses his close family relationships with both women and, then in quest of more meaning to life, his years of work and friendship with Mother Teresa as his “last mother.” He speaks of the value of sharing even a small part of oneself with others.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Bh4J9bTN7c/UwpJsvh7TMI/AAAAAAAANSU/JcTsHnL6KP8/s1600/Cover+-+Nothing+Like+a+Dame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Bh4J9bTN7c/UwpJsvh7TMI/AAAAAAAANSU/JcTsHnL6KP8/s1600/Cover+-+Nothing+Like+a+Dame.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Ethel Merman was a legendary Broadway musical star and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nothing Like A Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theatre</b> by Eddie Shapiro ($39.95, Oxford University Press) will delight anyone who loves the musical theatre with its interviews of twenty of the greatest leading women of Broadway. Among them are Carol Channing, Chita Rivera, Angela Lansbury, and Patti LuPone, along with some of the younger stars such as Audra McDonald and Kristin Chenoweth. Shapiro’s encyclopedia knowledge enhances the conversations. He is a longtime critic who has covered the arts for several publications</span>. <o:p></o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The man who conceived of the method of saving the life of someone choking on something is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Heimlich Maneuvers: My Seventy Years of Lifesaving Innovation</b> by Dr. Henry J. Heimlich, MD ($19.95, Prometheus Books, softcover). His memoir tells of his best known procedure as wll as his other life-saving inventions. He is the inventor of the Heimlich Chest Drain Valve that saved thousands of lives during the Vietnam War and the MicroTrach which provides a remarkably efficient way to for people to take oxygen. Anyone interested in medicine will find this memoir of interest as he describes his research, as well as the controversy and resistance he encountered. A very different memoir is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Bosnia List: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Return </b>($16.00, Penguin Books, softcover) by Kenan Trebincevic and Susan Shapiro who brought her journalist skills to bear on the story that begins when Tebincevic was age eleven, living a happy life in the quiet Bosnian town of Breko. In the spring of 1992, war broke out and his friends, neighbors, and teammates all turn on him because he was Muslim. He relates his family’s final terrifying year in Bosnia and their miraculous escape from the brutal ethnic cleansing that ravaged the former Yugoslavia. Though he swore he would never return, after two decades in America he honored his father’s wish to visit their former homeland. The visit in which he wanted to revenge the treatment his family received tells a story of redemption for the horrors to which they and others were subjected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Books for Young Readers &amp; Teens<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RlGoPqygCpU/UwpJ6nCvtNI/AAAAAAAANSc/kRO_Jy8K74M/s1600/Cover+-+Wild+About+Bears.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RlGoPqygCpU/UwpJ6nCvtNI/AAAAAAAANSc/kRO_Jy8K74M/s1600/Cover+-+Wild+About+Bears.jpg" height="155" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of my favorite publishers of books for young readers is Charlesbridge of Watertown, MA. In February they published for the very young, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Feathers—Not Just for Flying </b>by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen, ($17.95) that provides a glimpse into the real lives of birds in the wild and the role their feathers play for flight and camouflage or to line a nest. It’s educational and entertaining. This month <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wild About Bears</b> by Jeannie Brett ($17.95) will also appeal to those aged 6 through 9. They author introduces them to all eight species of bear and via some great watercolors, takes them around the world where they live including a map of where they can be found, as well as interesting information about bear traits and behavior, how they raise their young, and how they find food. This book, too, is both educational and entertaining. For those aged 4 to 7, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Music Everywhere! </b>By Maya Anjera, Elise Hofer Derstine and Cynthia Pon, ($17.95) published in February as a celebration of music and the joy it brings. It is filled with photos of children around the world singing, dancing, and playing instruments. It will inspire some youngsters to explore their own musical passions. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Behold the Beautiful Dung Beetle </b>by Cheryl Bardoe and illustrated by Alan Marks ($16.95) is aimed at those age 5 to 9 and they might find fascinating to learn about a beetle that loves to feed on dung. Sounds disgusting, but it isn’t. It is filled with amazing facts and compelling images that will appeal to the very young. Older readers, age 10 and up will find <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ocean of Fire: The Burning of Columbia, 1865 </b>by T. Neill Anderson ($16.95) an insight into the Civil War as the author tells of Sherman’s march on Atlanta that included the destruction of southern cities like Columbia in South Carolina. The story is told through several characters, both real and imagined. This is historical fiction that makes such events come alive for younger readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NbgLEl49j70/UwpKDwx8k3I/AAAAAAAANSk/R2-JyCDwDYk/s1600/Cover+-+Poodlemania.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NbgLEl49j70/UwpKDwx8k3I/AAAAAAAANSk/R2-JyCDwDYk/s1600/Cover+-+Poodlemania.jpg" height="200" width="154" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Tony Tuso Faber has teamed up with Benton Rudd, an illustrator, for a series of books in “The Poodle Tales” series and book one is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Poodlemania </b>($15.99, Mindster Media) that readers from age 4 to 9 will enjoy for both the artwork and the delightful story of a boy and girl poodle who get together and share various growing up skills, life lessons that readers will learn as well. The stories are light, comical, heartfelt, and educational. You can check out this book and the series at </span><a href="http://www.thepoodletales.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.thepoodletales.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">. The author is a very talented lady who began her modeling career at age 13, published a California magazine, and pursued many other interests. She and her husband, Bruce, live in Orange County with their three poodles. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Find Momo </b>($14.95, Quirk Books) is filled with photos by photographer Andrew Knapp of his border collie. He began posting photos of Momo in Instagram hiding out in all kinds of settings from Central Park in New York as well as fields, snow banks, and toy stores. They became an Internet sensation and young readers age 4 to 7 will surely enjoy them in this delightful book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eD6UfCAAZ9c/UwpKKGg5WMI/AAAAAAAANSs/yIZnvAvQPR8/s1600/Cover+-+Sophie's+Stoop+Story.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eD6UfCAAZ9c/UwpKKGg5WMI/AAAAAAAANSs/yIZnvAvQPR8/s1600/Cover+-+Sophie's+Stoop+Story.png" height="200" width="178" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">From Blue Martin Publications, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sofia’s Stoop Story: 18<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>Street, Brooklyn </b>by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson ($17.95) that is set in the 1960s as Uncle Frankie begins telling Sofia and her counsins a story about the day he met the baseball geat, Carl Furillo. Sofia is called away by her Nana to do some errands and when she returns the story is over, but Uncle Frankie shares the whole story with her and he gives her a keepsake that he has saved since 1947. It is evocative of the era and locale, and beautifully illustrated. A series of books from Wigu Publishing is devoted to the theme of “When I Grow Up I Want to Be…” and the latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Teacher </b>($12.99) that begins with a girl named Carlee who wants to become one. Her own mother is a new teacher at her school and readers journey with Carlee on first day there as she learns about her own independence and identity. This series is quite inspiring.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For readers age 9 to 13, two books from Capstone will provide some reading pleasure. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sherlock, Lupin &amp; Me: The Dark Lady </b>by Irene Adler which draws on the original Sherlock stories and offers a romp through 1870s France in pursuit of both a murderer and a thief. The twist is that the characters are introduced as children, making the story more accessible to a young audience as they find themselves caught up in a web of crime they must investigate. It is the first in a new series. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Secrets &amp; Spies: Treason </b>by Jo Macauley delves into the world of England’s Reformation era as a young spy unravels dangerous plots against the kind. A second book in this series is title <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Plague </b>and features a 14-year-old Beth Johnson, a talented and beautiful young actress. The year is 1664 and she becomes embroiled in a perilous adventure to unravel a plant to kill Charles II. Both books are priced at 12.95 and are a good investment in encouraging a young reader to discover the pleasures of fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xb5Waf5vXtg/UwpKVB5dzJI/AAAAAAAANS0/o00dXszRcl4/s1600/Cover+-+Moving+Target.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xb5Waf5vXtg/UwpKVB5dzJI/AAAAAAAANS0/o00dXszRcl4/s1600/Cover+-+Moving+Target.png" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 142.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 142.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Fans of J.A. Nance is back with her 50<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> book. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moving Target<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></b>($25.99, Touchstone, an imprint of Simon &amp; Schuster) is yet another detective novel in which a police academy-trained former reporter, Ali Reynolds, embarks on a trip to England with her longtime household assistant and right-hand man, Leland Brooks. Her greatest concern is helping her friend face his long-estranged family, but Ali soon finders herself investigating violent crimes spanning two continents and eras as vicious attacks unfold in Texas and an unsolved murder from the 1950s Bournemouth, Leland’s hometown resurfaces. Though they seem unconnected, they are and readers will not put this book down until they get to the last page.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 142.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Some years ago I reviewed Cynthia Hamilton’s novel, “Lucky at Love” and since then she has published three more, the latest of which is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spouse Trap </b>($14.00, Woodstock Press, softcover) in which Madeline Ridley, a Santa Barbara fundraising socialite sees her perfect life collapse in a swirl of blackmail, sabotage, and deceit after she awakens in a hotel room—alone, naked, and with a splitting headache and no idea how she got there. A group of lurid photos has been sent to her husband. She is in for the battle of a lifetime, but she discovers who her real enemy is. This is the first installment in a new series and provides lots of provocative, interesting reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 142.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Just out this month is Bobby Cole’s novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Rented Mule </b>($<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>14.95, Thomas &amp; Mercer, softcover). It is a tough, clever caper about a businessman who has been set up by a mysterious criminal to take the fall for his wife’s kidnapping. Behind what seems a good life, Cooper Dixon has been caught up in a never-ending cycle of arguments with his wife and his cocaine-addicted business partner is scheming to sell his business out from under him. When his wife is kidnapped his face is all over the television news and Dixon must depend on an unlikely ally to rescue his wife and clear his name.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 142.2pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Robyn Carr has won a number of awards for her previous novels and you will find out why when you read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Four Friends </b>($24.95, Harlequin MIRA) that debuts in April. It is a gripping story of four forty-something women whose lives hit the marital skids, but they find the strength and courage to face the difficult challenges they face. Set in the San Francisco neighborhood of Mill Valley, friends and neighbors think Gerry has the perfect marriage with her husband Phil. It is a relationship that is more comfortable than passionate after 25 years, three children and demanding careers. She discovers an affair her husband had years before and he is committed to do to make up to her, but she finds it difficult to forgive him. With her friends she must come to terms as they too must cope with marital problems. The shifting relationships make for interesting reading, one they many will see in their own lives and around them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 142.2pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">That’s it for March! Tell your friends, family, and coworkers about Bookviews.com, a monthly report on books that include nonfiction and fiction that may not receive the attention in the mainstream media they deserve. </span></b></div></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-23234228066058644652014-01-31T07:20:00.000-08:002014-01-31T07:20:56.243-08:00Bookviews - February 2014<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">﻿</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZFbB55yati8/UuVE1DASD1I/AAAAAAAANFc/S0C_5u5dNz8/s1600/Cover+-+Duty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZFbB55yati8/UuVE1DASD1I/AAAAAAAANFc/S0C_5u5dNz8/s1600/Cover+-+Duty.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The new “hot” book of 2014, debuting last month, and likely to remain newsworthy through the November 2014 midterm elections is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War</b> by Robert M. Gates ($35.00, Alfred A. Knopf). As one reads this book, what becomes evident is that he writes, not just about Iraq and Afghanistan, but about the various “wars” he fought as he became the only Secretary to serve two Presidents, Bush and Obama, both with very different personalities and policies. One of the wars was a political war with Congress every day he was in office. He describes “the dramatic contrast between my public respond, bipartisanship, and calm, and my private frustration, disgust, and anger.” Gates arrived at the job having served for more than two decades in the Central Intelligence Agency where, under President George H. W. Bush, he was its director. Under George W. Bush, he had to direct the latter years of a conflict in Afghanistan that continues to this day as efforts were made to introduce democracy, Western values regarding women, education, and the training of an Afghan military almost from scratch. If this wasn’t enough, Bush43 undertook a war with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein that led to his removal, but also led to fierce fighting ably led by General Petraeus. While the media has emphasized what appeared to be conflicts with Obama, he points out that he fulfilled Obama’s objectives that included a surge in Afghanistan and the coming withdrawal by the end of this year. The withdrawal from Iraq when it refused to agree to ways in which the U.S. forces were to be treated has led to a renewed conflict as al Qaeda has returned to seize portions of the nation. What impressed me was the candor with which Gates wrote of his experience, providing insight into the incredible challenges of the job. What is most inspiring, though, is the reason he shouldered these responsibilities and endured so much political conflict. Simply put, it was his love for the troops and his sense of a personal responsibility for them. On his last day in office in 2011, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. He earned it! <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fl1cGO0iWOc/UuVFScat02I/AAAAAAAANFg/RPNCyccnO6U/s1600/Cover+-+Kicking+the+Kremlin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fl1cGO0iWOc/UuVFScat02I/AAAAAAAANFg/RPNCyccnO6U/s1600/Cover+-+Kicking+the+Kremlin.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A new book takes a look at Vladimir Putin, the Russian republic’s version of Stalin. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kicking the Kremlin </b>by Marc Bennetts ($16.99, Oneworld Publications, softcover) takes a look at Russia’s new protest movement composed of those who want to see Putin removed from power, but it is also an excellent look at the way he came to power, his biography before that occurred, and how he has exercised it. As 2011 came to a close, 100,000 took to Moscow’s freezing streets to protest his election victory. A few months later, Pussy Riot, a girl band, was arrested from their anti-Putin demonstration in a Russian orthodox cathedral. As the book makes clear, opposing Putin can get you arrested and even killed. A series of assassinations of Russian journalists and protest leaders is far more than just a coincidence. Despite his protestations that the Russian constitution which protests free speech and public protests, doing so has become hazardous at best and Russia has no history of such activity, having been run by dictators from the czars to the communist dictators who replaced them. It is a good book to read as we get ready for the Winter Olympic Games, but it is worth reading to understand more about Putin and Russia whose economy is heavily dependent on its exports of oil and natural gas. Bennetts is a British journalist who has reported from Russia, Iran and North Korea for many years and, from late 2011 through early 2013, he worked for RIA Novosti, the now dissolved Russian state-run news agency. Suffice to say Putin controls the media. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/editor/static_files/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pdjOPkXIrhI/UuVFgGi4bAI/AAAAAAAANFo/ndGCKqS9N6A/s1600/Cover+-+The+Revolt+Against+the+Masses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pdjOPkXIrhI/UuVFgGi4bAI/AAAAAAAANFo/ndGCKqS9N6A/s1600/Cover+-+The+Revolt+Against+the+Masses.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Revolt Against the Masses: How Liberalism Has Undermined the Middle Class </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Fred Siegel ($25.99, Encounter Books, imprint of the Perseus Books Group) may sound like some boring political or historical treatise, but, if you want to understand how we have reached this point in our society where Socialism has given us the disaster called Obamacare, then this will prove to be an interesting, easy-to-read re-write of history of much of what you may have come to believe about Socialism. For example, it did not begin with Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressivism or Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Siegel tells how it began after World War I in the 1920s when a group of writers and thinkers—intellectuals—disillusioned with American society began to call themselves liberals as they adopted the hostility to the bourgeois—the masses—that was already in vogue among European intellectuals. Liberalism was born among a new class of politically self-conscious intellectuals who were critical of mass democracy and middle-class capitalism; you know, the values that made the U.S. the greatest economic power the world has ever seen! Well worth reading!<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">An interesting book about an aspect of history that is generally unknown is Nicholas Johnson’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms </b>($19.95, Prometheus Books). A professor of law at Fordham Law School where he has taught since 1993, Johnson chronicles the underappreciated black tradition of bearing arms for self-defense that reaches back to the pre-Civil War era. From Frederick Douglass’s advice to keep “a good revolver” handy as a defense against slave catchers to the armed self-protection against the KKK, it is clear that owning firearms was commonplace in the black community. He also addresses the issue of young black men with guns and the toll that gun violence takes on many in the inner city. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Home Book: The Complete Guide to Homeowner and Homebuilder Responsibilities</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">($49.95, Building Standards Institute, Sacramento, softcover) is intended to show homeowners what to expect with any new or remodeled home. It covers every possible condition referencing homeowner and homebuilder maintenance, providing 380 residential workmanship guidelines that are presented in are easy-to-read. Most homeowners don’t know where to find answers when they discover a defect in their new or remodeled home and this is particularly true if they aren’t detected right away. What, for example, are homeowners to do when the roof of their new home springs a leak? Or kitchen cabinets sag? Or they smell mold in the bathroom? The book was vetted by more than 70 industry professionals as well as government building officials, trade organizations, and consumer interests groups. It is the real deal and will no doubt save homeowners a lot of grief if they read it and keep it handy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I enjoy what even I admit are “silly” books, but that is because many are written to entertain as well as inform. A good example is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scared Stiff: Everything You Need to Know About 50 Famous Phobias </b>by Sara Latta ($12.99, Zest Books, softcover). We are generally aware of common phobias such as fear of heights, acrophobia, or confined spaces, claustrophobia, but there are others that include fears of insects, dogs, cats, mice or rats, to name a few. And let’s not leave out fear of germs. The book helps readers understand that they are not alone in have extreme fears. Ms. Latta comes from a science background so the fears noted in the book are treated seriously and she includes helpful information on how to cope with phobias, although some must surely require professional counseling when they interfere with living a normal life. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The baseball season is around the corner and for fans of the Boston Red Sox, Lew Freedman has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The 50 Greatest Players in Boston Red Sox History </b>($17.95, Camino Books, softcover) that takes a look at its 110-year history that had it share of great players like Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Carlton Fisk and David Ortiz, to name some of those that come to mind. Freedman has authored more than sixty popular sports books and this one will be a must-read for fans of this ball club. In addition to examining the personal stories of the best-known players, Freedman studies the careers of some of the excellent athletes who represented the club so long ago as to be nearly forgotten. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting Down to Business Books<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In addition to having been a business and science writer for decades, I have largely earned my living as a public relations counselor, so I know something about PR. It is an essential element of success for entrepreneurs, corporations, the government, associations and individuals seeking to call attention to their causes and achievements. That’s why I am happy to recommend Christina Daves new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">PR for Anyone</b>, ($14.95, Morgan James, softcover). Proof of the good advice she offers to small business owners is the fact that she has appeared on more than fifty media outlets in less than one year! It is filled with easy, actionable tips that would make that possible for anyone who reads her book. Public relations is an essential element of marketing one’s products and services, but many are unaware how to put it to work for themselves. Her book will open doors and create the “buzz” that lifts one’s business into public view, the kind of thing that can increase sales and achievement. It’s also a good reason to consider hiring a PR professional if you lack the time to do it yourself. Knowing the process helps you judge their success.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another excellent book for entrepreneurs is Tom Panaggio’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Risk Advantage </b>($14.95, River Grove Books, softcover). We all approach risk from our personal point of view and clearly some people are greater risk-takers than others. For those less inclined to take a risk, this book will prove very helpful as it explores our inclination to do so or not. As the author says, “The unexpected edge for entrepreneurial success starts with identifying a worthy risk and then having the courage to take it. It is the story in part of how Pannagio and his partners created a thriving American business and he uses his amateur racing exploits as a metaphor. “By viewing risk as just another challenge when opportunity presents itself, you’ll grab that edge—and win!” That’s true, but he also addresses how to deal with the failure than might occur from taking a risk and that’s an important part of being ready to risk again. This is fundamentally a book about the choices and judgments that anyone engaged in business must make and, after reading it, you will be better prepared to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Advice on How Live More Wisely<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There is virtually no aspect of life that someone has not written about to provide advice on how to cope, how to succeed, and how to make it better in some respect. As 2014 begins, here are some of the latest.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DWQxof__o5I/UuVNHuTlhTI/AAAAAAAANGM/5Fraes6G3Tg/s1600/Cover+-+the+Up+Side+of+Down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DWQxof__o5I/UuVNHuTlhTI/AAAAAAAANGM/5Fraes6G3Tg/s1600/Cover+-+the+Up+Side+of+Down.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Mastering the Art of Quitting: Why It Matters in Life, Love, and Work </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Peg Streep and Alan Bernstein ($24.95, Da Capo Press) runs counter to what we are told about never giving up and thinking positively. Sometimes those negative thoughts about our habits, our relationships, or our jobs are the right ones and should be acted upon. As the authors say, “Quitting is a healthy, adaptive response when a goal can’t be reached or when a life path turns out to be a blind alley. Simply putting quitting on the table—seeing it as a possible plan of action—is a necessary first step to changing your perspective.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>They argue that the most satisfied people have mastered the art of disengaging from unproductive goals and creating better ones to move them in a new direction. Grounded in the latest research, the book examines why people persist when they shouldn’t and how to fully disconnect from unproductive goals, cope with emotions caused by quitting, and form, prioritize, and implement better objectives to move people forward. </span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Upside of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success </b>by Megan McArdle ($27.95, Viking), a Bloomsberg columnist, examines how to find success by how quickly and nimbly we learn from our mistakes. A Libertarian, she makes a case for the way America is unique in its willingness to let people and companies fail, but also in the determination to help them pick themselves up afterword. She argues effectively that we have become too risk averse and that it is bad for ourselves and our children, as well as for enterprises that fail to compete effectively. The nation is in an era of “bailouts” that tap taxpayer dollars and may not serve as well as a trip to the bankruptcy court. Drawing on new research in science, psychology, and behavioral economics and insights from many who have experienced failures, she offers good advice on how to learn to make better decisions and break bad habits in business and life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another book about transforming our lives is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I Like Giving: The Transforming Power of a Generous Life </b>by Brad Formsma ($14.99, WaterBrook Press, softcover). If you feel that you’re not as generous as you should be, you’re not alone. We have been told that it is better to give than receive and Formsma is on a mission to change the way we see generosity as he challenges us to give wherever they are and in whatever manner they can. He wasn’t always that way, but a number of experiences convinced him of the truth of this. He is a successful entrepreneur and a philanthropist who, in 2007, sold his business to helping others. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Two problems that some encounter are addressed in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cheating Parents: Recovering From Parental Infidelity </b>($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Facing the Finish: A Road Map for Aging Parents and Adult Children </b>(15.95, Bascom Hill Publishing Group, softcover).<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The former, written by Dennis Ortman, PhD, a clinical psychologist, reflects his more than 35 years of counseling experience working with individuals suffering from the trauma of parental infidelity and examines how that affects their lives, especially when they too become adults. It affects their ability to have intimate relations, often cheat on their partners or marry those who cheat on them or are emotionally disengaged in their relationships. In a society where nearly forty percent of men and twenty percent of women in all economic stratus admit to having affairs during marriage, this is a very big problem. Their children often end up as walking wounded. Like so many others these days when parents are living longer lives and encounter the problems of old age, I could have used Sheri L. Samotin’s book on how adult children and their parents can address those problems. No one wants to think of their parent’s death and this includes the parents as well. Her book tackles the issues involved, offering advice on choosing the right caregiver, choosing to live at home, with family, or in the perfect senior housing community, as well as the fear of outliving one’s money or living on a fixed income when the cost of everything is rising. If this book reflects your present situation, I would strong recommend reading it.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">We all have concerns about our health and fitness, and Ken Blanchard, the co-author of the bestseller, “The One Minute Manager”, and Tim Kearin, a fitness coach, have teamed up to write <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fit at Last: Looking and Feel Better Once and For All </b>($24.95, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco). It has been lauded by both fitness experts and those in the business world, but Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen summed it up saying, “In the Army, teamwork and discipline are key to building successful teams and leaders.” In their book, “Ken Blanchard and Tim Kearin team up to deliver a disciplined holistic formula laced with personal challenges and successes that many of us have experienced in our quest to maintain physical fitness. This book will inspire you to not only begin but persevere toward the sheet job of being fit—at last.” The book is filled with excellent advice and I agree that it will change your life for the better after you have read it. And, for those with a big tummy, pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">21-Day Tummy: The Revolutionary Diet that Soothes and Shrinks Any Belly Fast </b>by Liz Vaccariello ($25.99, Readers Digest). Based on the latest research on the importance of eating anti-inflammatory and carb-light foods, the book is enhanced by more than 50 recipes that are delicious recipes to make weight loss easier, as well as inspirational stories and advice from those who found success with its recommendations. It’s about healthy eating and we all can benefit from that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><strong>Memoirs<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For many, the desire to set down the details of their lives and what they have learned from them results in writing a memoir. We can often gain some insights from them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Hero Among Us: Memoirs of an FBI Witness Hunter </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Jim Ingram with James L. Dickerson ($19.95, Sartoris Literary Group, Brandon, MS, softcover) is filled with Ingram’s personal experiences with some of the events of his career. Ingram passed away in 2009 after having served as well as Mississippi’s Public Safety Commissioner. It sheds light on some of the notorious cases of the modern era such as the assassination of President Kennedy, the “Mississippi Burning” civil rights murders and bombings, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the murder of Federal Judge John H. Woods, the FALN bombings by Puerto Rico separatists, and the FBI counterintelligence operation known as COINTELPRO. It is about the remarkable career of a remarkable man. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h8Fo7zBxTVU/UuVNkSOGgCI/AAAAAAAANGQ/eHwlsDCivDg/s1600/Cover+-+Dancing+Fish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h8Fo7zBxTVU/UuVNkSOGgCI/AAAAAAAANGQ/eHwlsDCivDg/s1600/Cover+-+Dancing+Fish.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Dancing Fish and Ammonites: A Memoir </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Penelope Lively ($26.95, Viking) has an intriguing title as one might expect from a successful author of many books for both adults and children, including the Man Booker Prize-winning novel “Moon Tiger” and others. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2012. It is a reflection on old age and, if that describes you, then you may find it of interest. It spans many years of her life from a childhood spent in Cairo and later at an English boarding school when her family was forced to leave due to the turmoil that occurred in Egypt and led to the seizure of the Suez Canal. I must confess I was unaware of the author’s career and books, but it must be said that she tends to ramble at length throughout so I suspect it will be of greater interest to those who are fans of her books and interested in the subject of old age.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Most Beautiful Girl: A True Story of a Dad, a Daughter, and the Healing Power of Music </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Tamara Saviano ($16.95, American Roots Press, softcover) has a foreword by Kris Kristofferson, the singer and actor. Saviano has achieved remarkable success and happiness in the music industry as an award-winning producer of albums. In 2012, she won the Americana Music Association’s Album of the Year award for tribute albums, but growing up she lived in fear as the frequent victim of her father’s abuse when he was under the influence of alcohol. When he wasn’t drunk, he was an adoring father who was her staunchest ally. The title of the book comes from the famous song of the same name. Now a 52-year-old woman, she shares her story and anyone who loves country music and may have experienced a similar childhood will find it of interest and value.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Antoinette Tuff put her life and her faith on the line when she confronted a young school shooter and talked him back from the brink of killing students at the school in Atlanta. She tells her story in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Prepared for a Purpose </b>($24.99, Baker Publishing Group). This memoir will inspire those who share her faith in God. She averted a tragedy while demonstrating courage. This is a story as well of how she faced up to and overcame tragedies in her own life. The account of her confrontation with the shooter is worth reading as is her life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The deluge continues. For every novel mentioned there are many others, but since reading fiction is a great way to relax or gain insights that may not be addressed in a non-fiction book, I am happy to recommend a few of those that have arrived.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rPIj_tDbtZc/UuVGbrP6drI/AAAAAAAANFw/vV9MOJqT1o8/s1600/Cover+-+Gasline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rPIj_tDbtZc/UuVGbrP6drI/AAAAAAAANFw/vV9MOJqT1o8/s1600/Cover+-+Gasline.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I have been reading and reviewing Lior Samson’s novels now for several years and enjoying each one. He has a special talent for taking issues and events from real life and turning them into fictional suspense and action. This is true of his latest novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gasline</b> ($14.95. Gesher Press, an imprint of Ampersand Press, Rowley, MA, softcover). Samson is comfortable addressing science and technology, but they are the background to the plot which, in this case, involves a safety engineer for a company that owns natural gas pipelines. Kat Gaudet in the field and Len Bergen, a technician in the company’s control center are drawn into events that involve a cyber-attack that could set off a huge explosion. It is so real because the events in the book reflect those that have occurred and, as he says in the author’s afterword, “The threat is real. Many parts of our natural gas transmission pipeline system are controlled by networks that are wide open to intrusion and to sabotage by relatively simple methods. Having written “Web Games” Samson knows his way around the technical aspects involved, but this new novel takes it to a new level of riveting storytelling.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels reflect real life or potential risks and Todd M. Johnson addresses what would happen if a nuclear facility that turned out plutonium during the Cold War suddenly has a huge explosion. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Critical Reaction </b>($14.99, Bethany House) focuses on the fictional Hanford Nuclear Facility’s poisoned buildings that must be guarded by men from sabotage as they monitor the building which they have been told the dangers are under control. The main character, Kieran Mullany, survives the blast, but is met with threats and silence when his attempts to discover what really happened are raised. He reconnects with an old friend, an inexperience lawyer, Emily Hart, and both are convinced that those in charge are hiding something, concluding they will not get far in the courts. Emily’s estranged father, Ryan, has the courtroom experience they need and, together, he digs for answers and, as he does, the court case gets stranger and more dangerous for them. This is an excellent debut novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I liked “Miss Peregine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs when it was published in 2011 as a unique fantasy story paired with haunting vintage photography. Though a “young adult” novel, it could be equally enjoyed by older readers and it spent more than 60 consecutive weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Film rights were sold to Twentieth Century Fox with a release date of July 2015. A sequel arrived in January, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregine’s Peculiar Children </b>($17.99, Quirk Books) and begins where the first book ended, opening as Jack and the other peculiars are on the run from “wights” posing as soldiers. Desperate to reach London before it’s too late, the children hope to find a cure for their beloved Miss Peregine who is trapped in a bird form! Along the way they encounter a menagerie of peculiar animals. The story doesn’t let up until the end and the sequel is likely to be another bestseller. One has to wonder what Riggs has in store for book three.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZnTR9SJ5GSY/UuVGuZp67oI/AAAAAAAANF8/ICPK-iE33JE/s1600/Cover+-+Whales+Head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZnTR9SJ5GSY/UuVGuZp67oI/AAAAAAAANF8/ICPK-iE33JE/s1600/Cover+-+Whales+Head.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">We can welcome the debut novelist, K.C. Woodworth who has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cutting Off A Whale’s Head </b>($14.95, Page Publishing, softcover) whose intriguing title is just the start of a fast-paced story that introduces us to Cree Quinn, a victim of the recession that has wreaked havoc on his adult-novelty business and other investments. He finds himself facing a vast financial loss that threatens to take away the family home and the fund for his young son’s college years. Suffice to say he is desperate until he learns of a decomposing carcass of a killer whale near the Golden Gate Bridge and, even though it is against the law, decides to cut off its head and sell it. Sounds bizarre? Yes, but that’s just where the fun begins. This novel will make you laugh and make you root for Quinn right up to when he is arrested and becomes a public hero of sorts. I won’t tell you how it ends. Along the way you will encounter a variety of wonderful characters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I am a bit late in taking note of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">To Sleep…Perchance to Dream</b>, an October debut novel by Donald A. Grippo ($24.00, Turn the Page Publishing) as a sexy, psychological thriller starring an Eurasian beauty, Mai Faca, who plots to marry Jake Warden, a successful oral surgeon forbidden to her because of family honor. In a bizarre scheme a fellow surgeon falls victim to Mai’s seduction as she and Jake play a cruel game in order to be together. Jake acts with surgical precision to clear the path to Mai’s happiness that threatens lives, including his own. The novel has a dense plot that will keep you turning the pages. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">William F. Nolan, the author of “Logan’s Run”, notes that there have been more than 450 books written about the Kennedy assassination, but that John A. Gaetano’s novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">America’s Deceit</b> ($23.40, WD Murray, softcover) “is the only one to explore the full truth regarding the death of our thirty-fifth president” noting that it is backed by thirty years of research that dismantles the “lone gunman” theory. Gaetano is convinced that Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill JFK! At close to 700 pages, it is a novel “that conspiracy buffs have been waiting for”, calling it “a mind-blower.” It fully fits the description of being an epic novel and it is one whose author is convinced that the government has engaged in a cover-up. That catch is, of course, this is a work of fiction about a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist whose life is changed by his investigation into the assassination. Gaetano was an active member of the Screen Actors Guild from 1977 through 1988 and is a skilled story-teller. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Two softcover novels from Langdon Street Press debuted in December. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last Ferryman</b> by Gregory D. Randle ($14.95) is set in Millerville, Minnesota, a ferry town and Buck Shyrock is certain it will stay that way. A local ferryman, his livelihood, like his father’s and grandfather’s before him, depends on it, but there are rumors that a bridge is coming to cross the Wabash River, though he dismisses them as gossip. It isn’t and as the construction begins, his family tried to help the old man accept the unstoppable progress. This isn’t just a story about progress, but also its impact on people’s lives and that of the community in which he lives. Randle grew up on the Wabash River in southeastern Illinois. This is his debut novel and a very good one. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Here By Mistake: The Secret of the Niche </b>by David Ciferri ($14.99) is about Brandon and his friends, Stephen and Sarah, who sneak into his Aunt Faye’s basement that is filled with antiquated treasures. They find more than they were looking for. It is a trove of gold coins, a knight’s armor, a stuffed grizzly bear on a pedestal and a mysteriously decorated niche. As they read the Latin inscription they leave New York 2005 and are transported back to another time and place, New Orleans 1965. They find the niche again, but gain a new perspective, not only about their history, but about the lives of people they think they know best. It is an intriguing story.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for February! Tell your book-loving family, friends, and co-workers about Bookviews.com so they too can enjoy its eclectic report on books, some of which are bestsellers, but which focuses on books that may not receive the attention they deserve. </span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-7690713843587187442013-12-31T07:10:00.000-08:002014-01-02T07:08:23.965-08:00Bookviews - January 2014<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HgEF_KFv9xQ/UsLaUy0x18I/AAAAAAAAM4c/Ad3W4Ub_piQ/s1600/Cover+-+A+Nation+in+the+Red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HgEF_KFv9xQ/UsLaUy0x18I/AAAAAAAAM4c/Ad3W4Ub_piQ/s200/Cover+-+A+Nation+in+the+Red.jpg" width="117" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The one book you must read as the new year begins is Murray Holland’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Nation in the Red: The Government Debt Crisis and What We Can Do About it </b>($28.00, McGraw Hill) for its chilling message about the economic collapse of America and the steps that must be taken to avoid it. In recent years I have received a number of books on this subject, but Murray’s stands out, not only for the facts it cites, but for the way it can be easily comprehended by someone who has little to no grasp of our economic system. “The national debt can never be paid off. It is like a cancer we will have to live with for the rest of the life of the nation,” says Holland and the facts about the size of our debt, the matrix of socialist programs that contribute to it, and the explosion in spending and borrowing that is driving the nation to collapse. The debt stands at $19 trillion and may be over $33 trillion in just ten years. The nation’s Gross Domestic Product—how much we take in for the sale of goods and services—is less than what it is paying out for its many socialist programs (Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, unemployment, student loans, and housing). The financial problems that European nations that embraced socialism are a clear warning sign that it can and will happen here without a significant reduction in the federal government’s spending and borrowing. Murray calls it a Debt Trap and the implications for Americans, now and generations to come, are frightening. For eighty years since the Great Depression, Americans have been adopting socialist programs precisely as its enemies have wanted. The bill is coming due. Another recent book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure</b>,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>by John A. Allison ($28.00, McGraw Hill) is also worth reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IfTOr5IUDhM/UsLbL-eyrvI/AAAAAAAAM4g/e1JVBw471Cg/s1600/Cover+-+Afghanistan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IfTOr5IUDhM/UsLbL-eyrvI/AAAAAAAAM4g/e1JVBw471Cg/s200/Cover+-+Afghanistan.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">It’s hard to believe that the U.S. has been engaged in a military conflict in Afghanistan since 2001. For most Americans it has been a war to which little attention was paid unless one had a son, daughter or loved one stationed there. Now the noted photographer Robert Cunningham, along with Steven Hartov, has captured the lives, the dedication, the sacrifices, and service of our military that served there in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Afghanistan on the Bounce: Boots on the Ground with the U.S. Military and the International Security Assistance Force </b>($40.00, Insight Editions), a large format book that will fill your heart with pride. Cunningham was embedded with our troops over the course of 132 missions, photographing all aspects of the military operation there, including photos of Afghans old and young. The book is a real treasure and beautifully produced as page after page testifies to their courage, humor and humanity. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CgzpYjhiMSg/UsLbYGwGyNI/AAAAAAAAM4o/pcC7tDvvRl8/s1600/Cover+-+Willing+Accomplices.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CgzpYjhiMSg/UsLbYGwGyNI/AAAAAAAAM4o/pcC7tDvvRl8/s200/Cover+-+Willing+Accomplices.JPG" width="131" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A book you are not likely to hear about in the vast leftist media of the nation is by a former CIA espionage officer, Kent Clizbe. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Willing Accomplices: How KGB Covert Influence Agents Created Political Correctness, Obama’s Hate-America-First Political Platform, and Destroyed America </b>($18.99, softcover, $5.99 Kindle, and $21.95 audio, Andemca Publishing, available from Amazon.com.) Clizbe tells how, shortly after Lenin was able to seize control of Russia and establish communism there, he instituted a program to undermine America under the direction of the KBG, its security service. While historians have written about Russia and its massive espionage program, they lack Clizbe’s background and thus have not made the connection between its program of political correctness, the infiltration of the media, academia, education and entertainment. The result is an educational system that falsely depicts our Founders, our history, and our values of individualism and, of course, capitalism. In these major factors of our society, America is constantly depicted as racist, sexist, and imperialistic. The result is generations of Americans who have been encouraged to loath the greatest nation in the world. Clizbe documents who the major players in this effort have been and are. His book explains much of Obama’s agenda. We are dangerously close to being destroyed as a nation by at least half the population that has been corrupted by political correctness, a hatred of America. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Timothy Sandefur ($$24.95/$12.99 ebook, CATO Institute) combines law, history and political philosophy for a powerful defense of the Constitution. Like many Americans, I came late to reading the Declaration, response to the arrogant actions of the British crown and parliament to colonies that had ruled themselves for a century and had grown weary of taxation without representation. Sandefur notes that the word “democracy” does not appear in the Declaration, but “liberty” does and that it should set the framework for interpreting the Constitution, a governing instrument notable for putting limits on a central government while ensuring that the states and citizens retain their rights, not granted but acknowledged by it. “Liberty comes first, and order arises from it. We have gone astray in our constitutional understanding because we have upended that relationship.” As the current administration demonstrably limits our liberties—Obamacare is a prime example, requiring Americans to purchase something they may not want or need—current polls indicate that they have begun to awaken to the danger and are swinging back to a more conservative interpretation and practice. This book will interest anyone who takes a serious interest in the subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In an era in which we are all constantly being manipulated by government, special interest groups, and others, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Push Back! How to Take a Stand Against Groupthink, Bullies, Agitators, and Professional Manipulators</span> </b>by B.K. Eakman ($14.95, Skyhorse Publishing, softcover) examines scenarios of mass indoctrination and demonstrates how to recognize and counter them effectively. An educator and international and national human rights advocate, Eakman<s><span style="color: red;">,</span></s> provides a guide to spotting how professional manipulators exert power over a room and steer discussions back to their agendas without ever answering audience questions or addressing their concerns. They often employ techniques to ostracize those who challenge their assertions, questioning or criticizing them. This is an extremely useful book when hoaxes and deceptions are advanced by such people. </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hDSYQ_rhLWI/UsLbjKG_tSI/AAAAAAAAM4w/FA2aY0pis78/s1600/Cover+-+The+Big+Screen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hDSYQ_rhLWI/UsLbjKG_tSI/AAAAAAAAM4w/FA2aY0pis78/s200/Cover+-+The+Big+Screen.jpg" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For anyone who loves films, both old and new, there is a special treat to be had in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies </b>by David Thomson ($18.00, Farrar Straus Giroux, softcover) because this British-American film critic and historian has written a fat volume based on his encyclopedic knowledge of movies. It is a sweeping history of cinema that an enthusiast will enjoy in every respect. One cannot talk of film history without noting the legendary director <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Ford </b>($22.95, Lake Street Press, softcover) by Joseph Malham who takes us into the life of the six-time Oscar winner for classics such as “The Grapes of Wrath”, “How Green Was My Valley”, and “The Quiet Man.” He is perhaps best known for his Westerns, “Stagecoach”, “The Searchers”, and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”, all made with his longtime friend, John Wayne. The book is subtitled the “Poet in the Desert” and Malham provides interesting insight into Ford’s faith and Irish roots, that both contributed to his portrayals of families, communities, and history.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I am born and bred in New Jersey, so when I received Lynda L. Hinkle’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Breaking Up: Finding and Working with a New Jersey Divorce Attorney </b>($12.44, Amazon.com, softcover), which, though it is focused on New Jersey law, is filled with excellent advice even if you live elsewhere. As she makes clear, divorce is one of the most stressful situations one can encounter. What I found notable was the tone of the book. It is clear-headed, the kind of advice one needs to receive. Hinkle is a divorce attorney and has been through her own divorce. If I were getting a divorce, I would want her in my corner. Her book will put her there for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting Down to Business (Books)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There are a number of books devoted to achieving success in business and we can count on many more to come in the year ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PQIF1p2Uegw/UsLdNiPu_hI/AAAAAAAAM5Y/REVWFt1JV-o/s1600/Cocwe+-+Best+Thing+that+Could+Happen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PQIF1p2Uegw/UsLdNiPu_hI/AAAAAAAAM5Y/REVWFt1JV-o/s200/Cocwe+-+Best+Thing+that+Could+Happen.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A lot of people are stuck in jobs they don’t like or battling hopelessness as the seek employment these days. For them, Sander A. Flaum’s book, written with Michele Flaum, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Best Thing That Could Ever Happen to You: How a Career Reversal Can Reinvigorate Your Life </b>($16.95, Big Shoes Publishing, softcover) should be at the top of their reading list. With a foreword written by former astronaut, Senator John Glenn, it is an easy-to-read, how-to guide that moves readers out of their no-win employment rut and gets them back in charge of their job search. Flaum, who is chairman of the Leadership Forum at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business Administration, shows how to work harder and smarter to come out on top in the interviewing process. The bottom line is that the book teaches readers how to deal with their fears and shortcomings, get passed their inhibitions, and find the job that is right for them. The author really knows what he is talking about and, if you’re seeking a new job, this is the book for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">An interesting book about a classic case of what happens when a corporate leader plunders his corporation is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Taking Down the Lion</b> by Catherine S. Neal ($28.00, Palgrave Macmillan) as she examines the rise and fall of Tyco’s Dennis Kozlowski. He had grown a little known New Hampshire conglomerate into a global giant, but in a stunning succession of events, he suddenly lost his job and was indicted during the post-Enron era.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>He was convicted of wrongfully taking $100 million from Tyco to engage in a lifestyle that put him in jail. He is due for release soon. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The 25<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>anniversary edition of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People </b>by Stephen R. Covey ($30.00/$17.00, Simon &amp; Schuster, hard and softcover) is widely regarded as one of the most inspiring books ever written and been read by leaders of business and industry, as well as students preparing to enter the employment marketplace. More than twenty million copies have been sold. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. This is a book devoted to fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity. In sum, no matter your age or status, this book can give your life a boost. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Totally beyond anything I understand or know about is data science, so I will trust those who recommend John W. Foreman’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Data Smart: Using Data Science to Transform Information Into Insight </b>($45.00, Wiley, softcover). The book shows you the significant data science techniques, how they work, how to use them, and how this will benefit your business, no matter if it is large or small. And the best part says the author is that anyone can learn how to do this. The author is the Chief Data Scientist for MailChimp.com where he leads a data science product development project. As an analytics consultant, he has created data science solutions for the Coca-Cola Company, Royal Caribbean International, the Department of Defense, the IRS and the FBI, among others. Sergiusz Prokurat, an economist and historian, takes a look at the way work is changing and, in some cases, disappearing as robots replace people, in his book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Work 2.0: Nowhere to Hide </b>($9.99, Kindle $4.99, softcover). It is an intellectual examination of how the introduction of new technologies, particularly the computer and the Internet, has begun to transform the way work has been defined in the past and, in addition to the skills required to be connected to the world, how work is increasingly about knowledge and the provision of services needed to convey it in the digital age. Gone are the days one gets hired by a corporation and stays there for his career. Mobility, flexibility and other traits will play an important role in the new age. This is a book that anyone involved in organizations large and small as well as a young man or woman coming out of college will benefit from reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Mental States<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Some publishers specialize in various topics because it interests them and presumably might interest a lot of other people. The world of the mind is a topic about which <em>Prometheus Books</em> has a number of titles that, if you find yourself thinking about what you’re thinking, you might want to read. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YO9fj1CNolI/UsLbvJoCpvI/AAAAAAAAM44/PHyW6ZEMQRc/s1600/Cover+-+Think.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YO9fj1CNolI/UsLbvJoCpvI/AAAAAAAAM44/PHyW6ZEMQRc/s200/Cover+-+Think.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Let’s start with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Think: Why You Should Question Everything </b>by Guy P. Harrison ($16.95. softcover) which challenges everyone to think like a scientist and embrace the skeptical life. This book will help you improve your critical thinking skills, see through most scams at first glance, and learn how your own brain can trip you up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It shows you how to navigate through the maze of biases and traps that are standard features of every brain. As a result, we often trick ourselves into thinking, remembering, and believing things that are not real or true. It is an upbeat book that’s fun. Are you moody? Who isn’t? Maybe you should pick up a copy of Patrick M. Burke’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mood: The Key to Understanding Ourselves and Others </b>($18.95, softcover). The author is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona and his book is a comprehensive developmental approach to understanding mood and the role that it plays in determining our outlook on life and our ability to cope with its challenges. We all know people who are generally happy and others who always seem to be in a bad mood. Most of us fit in somewhere between the two poles. Mood, says the author, is the way we are tuned into the world and begins early in our lives as relationships play a central role in shaping our moods. Security or insecurity, loss or the fear of loss of key relationships, especially in childhood can have lasting effects on the way we view the world. If you’re in a mood to learn more, this book will prove of interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Believing: The Neuroscience of Fantasies, Fears, and Convictions </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Michael McGuire ($19.95/$ll.99, softcover or ebook) asks and answers the question what are beliefs and how have evolution and culture led to a brain that is seemingly committed to near endless belief creation? Once established, why are most beliefs difficult to change? The author is professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavior sciences at the University of California, LA. He takes the novel approach of focusing on the central and critical role of brain systems and the ways in which they interact with the environment to create and maintain beliefs. This is fairly heavy duty reading, but for the inquiring mind, it will prove quite satisfying. It seems like “fairness” is the being spoken of all the time these days, particularly in a political context. Fairness has intrigued philosophers and social thinkers in both Eastern and Western societies for millennia. L. Sun, a professor of biology at Central Washington University, trained initially at East China Normal University in Shanghai before pursuing further studies in the United States. The result of that is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fairness Instinct: The Robin Hood Mentality and Our Biological Nature </b>($24.95/$12.99, hardcover and ebook). Sun examines the innate sense of fairness displayed by human beings in all kinds of societies throughout history and argues that it is an emotion and behavior rooted in our DNA rather than a product of ideology or convention. He cites studies that show that even monkeys react negatively to patently unfair treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>While we generally regard fairness as a good thing, Sun shows that there’s a down side when it plays too great a role in leveling inequalities, producing rigid social structures where only mediocrity is condoned. Well worth the time to read. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Many books on the subject of leadership have crossed my desk in the many years I have been a reviewer. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Way of the SEAL: Think Like an Elite Warrior to Lead and Succeed</b> by Mark Divine, Commander, U.S. Navy SEALs (retired) with Allyson Edelhertz Machate ($21.99, Reader’s Digest) examines those attributes of military life that can be translated to the civilian world with exercises, meditations, and other techniques to train your mind for mental toughness, emotional resilience, and uncanny intuition. Divine served in the SEALs for twenty years and has led a number of multimillion-dollar business ventures since his retirement. His book distills the fundamentals of success into eight powerful principles that impart his experience to teach you to think like a SEAL in order to take charge of your life at work, at home, and in life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZvWY4YKT7bU/UsLcPHcCd5I/AAAAAAAAM5A/VoAy2_mgRbg/s1600/Cover+-+Happily+Ever+After.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZvWY4YKT7bU/UsLcPHcCd5I/AAAAAAAAM5A/VoAy2_mgRbg/s200/Cover+-+Happily+Ever+After.jpg" width="161" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Moving on from Prometheus Books, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Happily Ever After: The Life-Changing Power of a Grateful Heart </b>by Trista Sutter ($24.99, Da Capo Books). Twenty-six million viewers watched ABC’s first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bachlorete</i> get swept away in a fairytale romance and many wished they could be as lucky as the author. Courted by a handsome, poetry-writing firefighter in some of the world’s most luxurious destinations, the match was for read, Trista and Ryan celebrated their ten-year anniversary in December of last year. They now have two children, a dog, and a fulfilling family life. In her book, she shares her thoughts on the importance of living a thankful life while chronicling her personal journey and including stories from friends as well as experts. I have no doubt this book could help someone hoping their dream of lasting love come true and wondering, perhaps, why it hasn’t yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Alan C. Fox’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">People Tools: 54 Strategies for Building Relationships, Creating Joy, and Embracing Prosperity </b>($16.95, SelectBooks, softcover) is filled with good advice on how to deal with many of life’s many problems such as having the same argument with a sibling, parent or child, deciding whether to end a relationship, determining if it’s time to make a career change or whether a business partner is trustworthy, to name just a few of the topics addressed in this book. At age 72 Fox has university degrees in accounting, law, education and professional writing. Along the way he has had his own law firm and founded a commercial real estate company in 1968 that manage more than seventy major income-producing properties in eleven states. With more than seventy years of experience, he shares it in a way that can help the reader avoid life’s pitfalls and develop successful relationships.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">To Your Health (Books)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Americans more be more obsessed about their health than any other people. The books devoted to it keep coming and here are some of the latest that have arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The media is filled with images of beautiful bodies, but in real life, a lot of the people we encounter are overweight or just not the “hard bodies” we’re told should be a goal. If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to lose weight and get gorgeous, then you should consider <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle </b>by Tom Venuto ($27.00, Harmony) who has worked in the fitness industry since 1989, including 14 years as a personal trainer. He promotes all-natural, healthy strategies. The book is not about becoming a fitness model or a body-builder, but rather how to use the same techniques they employ to improve your own health and fitness. It’s a big book and it has plenty of advice that answers pretty much the answer to every question one might have and lots of information you may have encountered. He makes sense on every page. I</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9Klha31YDE/UsLZ08TZGgI/AAAAAAAAM4U/mQKFuIQ7khI/s1600/Cover+-+Toxic+Staple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9Klha31YDE/UsLZ08TZGgI/AAAAAAAAM4U/mQKFuIQ7khI/s200/Cover+-+Toxic+Staple.jpg" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you’ve been wondering about the reason you are seeing more gluten-free foods for sale and wondering if it is just the latest trend, you should read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Toxic Staple: How Gluten May Be Wrecking Your Health—and What You Can Do About It </b>by Anne Sarkisian ($17.95, Max Health Press, LCC, New London, NH, softcover). The author notes that true celiac disease, the body’s inability to process the wheat protein known as gluten, is only found in a small percentage of the world’s population, but she regards them as just the tip of the gluten iceberg, estimating that at least 10%, but perhaps as many as 40%, of Americans may be sensitive to gluten. That sensitivity results in chronic health conditions from arthritis to zits, asthma, cancer, fatigue, migraines, memory loss, and osteoporosis. The test for such sensitivity, however, is rarely used in the U.S. Since I lack the knowledge to verify or dispute the author’s assertions, the best I can suggest is that, if the subject interests you, this book will surely prove helpful. As she says, “Eliminating it from the diet is the easy part. The hard part is getting doctors to take gluten sensitivity seriously and test for it adequately.” Judging from the praise the book has received from health professionals, she is clearly onto something.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">What to Do When You Can’t Get Pregnant </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Dr. Daniel Potter with Jennifer Hanin ($18.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) is now in its completely revised and updated second edition as “The complete guide to all the options for couples face fertility issues.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>For those couples struggling with fertility issues, navigating the clinical medical jargon while trying to communicate with partners, doctors, friends and family can be a challenge. Dr. Potter was named one of 2012’s top reproductive endocrinologists by the U.S. News and World Report. Team with Ms. Hanin, a freelance journalist and the mother of twin girls conceived through in vitro fertilization, their book walks the reader through the various aspects of fertility procedures. For those couples dealing with the issue, they will take comfort in known they are not isolated and without direction in facing their problem. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CpzKC0Bi75Y/UsV_vf9ptpI/AAAAAAAAM7E/MxpvrgTq1IM/s1600/Cover+-+What+I+Expected.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CpzKC0Bi75Y/UsV_vf9ptpI/AAAAAAAAM7E/MxpvrgTq1IM/s200/Cover+-+What+I+Expected.jpg" width="133" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">At the other end of the spectrum, postpartum depression, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">This Isn’t What I Expected: Overcoming Postpartum Depression </b>by Karen R. Kleiman, the founder of The Postpartum Stress Center, and Dr. Valarie Davis Raskin, a psychiatrist ($17.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) us also in its second edition, revised and updated. It is a condition that affects in in five women and the authors who both spent two decades working with women who experienced it have written a book that anyone encountering it or who knows someone encountering it should definitely read. The healing process involves combatting negative thoughts and taking the time to take care of oneself, including if needed medications and therapy. The good news is that one can recover if they take the right steps. Another aspect of motherhood is discussed in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism, and the Reality of the Biological Clock </b>($19.95, Prometheus Books, softcover) by Tanya Selvaratnam as she confronted the biological clock that determines childbirth and, as she points out, biology does not bend to feminist ideals and science does not work miracles. A self-described feminist, the author learned this the hard way. Part personal account, part manifesto, Salvaratnam dispels myths about women’s biological clocks, the difference between being child-free versus childless, and the many other aspects of fertility and infertility involved. She wants a wider discussion about delayed motherhood and she has filled her book with valuable information to advance that goal. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Greg S. Pergament is a clinical associate at the Las Vegas Recovery Center and an ordained Zen Buddhist and Taoist priest who has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Chi Kung in Recovery: Finding Your Way to a Balanced and Centered Recovery </b>($14.95, Central Recovery Press, softcover). Chi Kung is the art of cultivating life force energy and the book describes a selection of exercises that are designed to boost health, enhance vitality, and increase mind-body-spirit consciousness. An ancient Chinese health care system, it integrates physical postures, breathing techniques, and focused attention. Westerners are more inclined to want to pop a pill or embark on some strategy to quickly get to recovery. If that’s not working for you or someone you know, this book unlocks the ancient secrets that may ensure that recovery becomes a long term solution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Every day novels arrived here at Bookviews and, while they provide a bit of entertainment, one wonders what compels their authors to write them. This is particularly true of the self-published ones which have been a growing trend in recent years. My job is just to let you know about some of those that have been received.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The husband and wife team of Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini have authored the second installment in a lighthearted historical mystery series set in the early days of San Francisco’s nineteenth century. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Spook Lights Affair </b>($24.99, Forge) and it stars a former Pinkerton operative, Sabrina Carpenter and her partner, ex-Secret Service agent, John Quincannon. It is a sequel to “The Bughouse Affair.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Each is pursuing a case, one of which involves a socialite’s mysterious suicide while another is the pursuit of a bank robber. The reader is treated to a tour of the city’s gaming houses and brothels, taking them back to that era. It is a lively, entertaining read. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1NdgYNuS778/UsLc2ifTI8I/AAAAAAAAM5I/IlCyCBpWTvw/s1600/Cover+-+Why+Are+You+So+Sad.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1NdgYNuS778/UsLc2ifTI8I/AAAAAAAAM5I/IlCyCBpWTvw/s1600/Cover+-+Why+Are+You+So+Sad.png" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Jason Porter makes his debut with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Why Are You So Sad? </b>($15.00, Plume, softcover) whose main character is Raymond Champs, an illustrator of manuals for a home furnishings corporation. Raymond is unhappy. He can’t sleep. He can’t communicate with his wife. And his job provides no inspiration beyond a paycheck. No one seems to understand him, including himself, which surely explains why he is sad. Raymond concludes that everyone he knows and maybe everyone on the planet is suffering from severe clinical depression and is equally convinced that something major has gone wrong. This may not sound like an amusing story, but Porter brings a lot of talent to examining Raymond’s problem and, in the process, will make you laugh as you join in a search for why life in America today provides “things” but not purpose. J. Alec Keaton makes his debut as a novelist with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When Love Never Ends </b>($16.00, Two Harbors Press, softcover). Sam has never gotten over his one true love, Sara, but he walked away amidst racist threats from her bigoted father. They went their separate ways. Sara got married and Sam threw himself into work, becoming a successful lawyer for a prestigious firm. A decade later they meet again when Sara seeks legal help and they spend three whirlwind days today, but her jealous husband ends the reunion with a single shot. Wild with grief Sam seeks consolation with a grief-ridden college professor who lost his wife four years earlier and who has been obsessed with time travel, trying to help him give up his fantasies while he seeks to cope with his own loss. It is a mix of romance and science fiction. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For a story filled with different characters involved in triangular love, art and its future of the Jazz Age. It is 1924 in New York and Lillian Moore, a painter, and Leon Shaffer, an accountant, narrate <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Bohemians </b>($14.95, Black Heron Press) and take you back to an era of early cars and telephones, silent movies, sham medical cures, speakeasies, gangsters, and jazz. Lillian’s desires and needs, as well as Leon’s attraction to her form the plot. Published in July of last year, it got lost in the stacks, but is well worth reading if you enjoy a historical novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nP8st0Vfeu0/UsLdAzTCVfI/AAAAAAAAM5Q/yyO71ak781Q/s1600/Cover+-+Styx+and+Stones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nP8st0Vfeu0/UsLdAzTCVfI/AAAAAAAAM5Q/yyO71ak781Q/s200/Cover+-+Styx+and+Stones.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Seventh Street Books is an imprint of Prometheus Books and has sent along three softcover novels that offer some interesting reading experiences. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Styx &amp; Stone: An Ellie Stone Mystery </b>($15.95) by James W. Ziskin is built around a comment by Sgt. McKeever, “If you were a man, you’d make a good detective.” Ellie is sure he meant it as a compliment, but she bridles at the thought that she is a woman trying to do a man’s job as a reporter. She is adrift in her career, living in New York City when she receives news that her estranged father, a renowned Dante scholar, is near death after a savage bludgeoning in his home. The police suspect a routine burglary, but Ellie has her doubts. When a second attempt on his life is made when he is in the hospital, she embarks on her own investigation that holds the prospect of redemption in her father’s eyes and the risk of loving him forever. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">White Ginger </b>by Thatcher Robinson ($15.95) introduces the reader to Bai Jiang who combines Buddhist philosophy with wicked knife skills. When a girl goes missing in San Francisco’s Chinatown, she is called upon to track her down. The trail leads to wannabe gangsters, flesh peddlers, and eventually to those who have marked Bai for death. It is a cocktail of wit, charm, sex, and violence. In E. Michael Helms novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Deadly Catch: A Mac McClellan Mystery </b>($15.95), the recently retired U.S. Marine hooks a badly decomposed body while enjoying a leisurely fishing vacation in the Florida panhandle and then discovered a bag of rare marijuana is found stashed aboard his rental boat. He realizes someone is setting him up to take the fall for murder and drug smuggling. Along with Kate Bell with whom he has struck up a promising relationship, the two must butt heads and match wits with local law enforcement officials, shady politicians, and strong-armed thugs. It’s a story you won’t want to put down until the last page.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EFb2lHOdWYs/UsLdaVNYrDI/AAAAAAAAM5g/GvOl4_box1Q/s1600/Cover+-+Phoenix+Island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EFb2lHOdWYs/UsLdaVNYrDI/AAAAAAAAM5g/GvOl4_box1Q/s200/Cover+-+Phoenix+Island.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Three novels are written for young adults and will evoke a keen enjoyment of reading. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Phoenix Island</b> is by John Dixon ($19.95, Gallery Books) and is the inspiration for the CBS-TV show “Intelligence” that premieres this month and introduces the reader to a world where orphans are sent to boot camp and forced to fight for their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>When 16-year-old boxing champ Carl freeman jumps in to defend a helpless stranger, he is sentenced to a two-year sentence at an isolated boot camp for troubled orphans. He is determined to tough it out, earn a clean record, and get on with his life. But then kids start to die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Realizing that Phoenix Island is really a Sparten-style mercenary organization turning “throwaway kids” into super-soldiers, Carl risks everything to save his friends and stop a madman bent on global destruction. The book is based on real-life stories in his home state of Pennsylvania. In Jennifer Walkup’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Second Verse</b> ($15.95/$11.95, Luminis Books, hard and softcover editions) Lange Crawford’s move to Shady Springs, Pennsylvania, lands her in a group of awesome friends, a major crush on songwriter Vaughn, and life in a haunted 200-year-old farmhouse. It also brings The Hunt, an infamous murder mystery festival where students solve a fake, gruesome murder scheme during the week of Halloween. Well, supposedly fake. It is a mix of suspense and romance with a supernatural element that is sure to entertain readers from age 12 and up. Lastly, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Lose Everything </b>by Philipp Mattheis that is “a mostly true story” ($14.99, Zest Books) about a summer in 1994 in which a group of four teenagers find a small fortune hidden inside a mysterious abandoned house and what starts out as a blessing soon turns into a curse as stress, drugs, criminal behavior, dwindling funds and even death raise serious questions about their choices and their futures. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for January and the year ahead promises to be filled with many new non-fiction and fictional books that are sure to inform and entertain you. Tell your book-loving friends, family and coworkers about Bookviews.com, a unique, eclectic report. And come back in February!</span></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></b>&nbsp;</div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-82524093519180613902013-12-01T06:34:00.000-08:002013-12-02T06:41:12.154-08:00Bookviews - December 2013<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CVlXqkwpsUU/UpT6GeVFAUI/AAAAAAAAMo8/_IVD8fb7F8Y/s1600/Cover+-+Myth+of+America%2527s+Decline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CVlXqkwpsUU/UpT6GeVFAUI/AAAAAAAAMo8/_IVD8fb7F8Y/s200/Cover+-+Myth+of+America%2527s+Decline.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One book you must read if you are feeling unhappy with the nation’s present and future is Josef Joffe’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Myth of America’s Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies </b>($26.95, Liveright Publishing). A Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and the publisher of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Die Zeit</i>, as well as a frequent contributor to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Foreign Affairs </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Foreign Policy, </i>Joffe was educated at Swarthmore College and Harvard University. He is not only comfortable with real facts, but also has the talent to present them in an entertaining fashion that makes for easy and compelling reading. He points out the many times predictions have been made that America is in decline over the past half century and explores why they have been proven wrong by both our free market capitalist system and our national culture that continues to attract people seeking real freedom. In my lifetime and his, pundits have claimed that the U.S. would lose ground to Russia, Japan, and, of late, China. He dubs this “declinism” and describes how and why such claims were and are wrong. The good news just keeps coming on every page, along with insights to the rise and fall of empires and nations in the past. One can read these predictions all the time, but to give you optimism for America’s future, I recommend you read this excellent book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9LnZQHjtGMk/UpT6UfZFUII/AAAAAAAAMpA/tt6_E0Nw9AY/s1600/Cover+-+State+of+Failure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9LnZQHjtGMk/UpT6UfZFUII/AAAAAAAAMpA/tt6_E0Nw9AY/s200/Cover+-+State+of+Failure.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Americans look at Israel and wonder why it has not been able to achieve peace with the Palestinians or why the Palestinians have not been able to form a state of their own. The answer can be found in Jonathan Schanzer’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">State of Failure</b>, ($27.00, Palgrave Macmillan) an excellent review of the history of the two entities since Israel’s declaration of statehood in 1947. From the present day in which the Palestinian people must contend with two separate organizations, the older Palestinian Authority and the newer Hamas, claiming to represent them while being in a virtual state of war with one another, united only in their desire to destroy Israel. It is Schanzer’s view that the older group, formerly the Palestinian Liberation Organization led by Yassir Arafat, never demonstrated the ability or even an interest in creating a formal government structure. In addition, Arafat controlled the millions that flowed to the PLO from donor nations, stealing much of it for his own use. Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., has at least made an effort to create social services in the Gaza area it occupies. What becomes obvious is that the so-called leaders of the Palestinians have never been interested in statehood, preferring cronyism and corruption to that responsibility. The current PA president has not called for an election since 2005 when his term in elected office ended. Why does the world tolerate such behavior? You need to read the book to learn that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4qPJuGDynQI/UpT6byTNAkI/AAAAAAAAMpI/rDpyIyCzjxs/s1600/Cover+-+IF_I_HAD_A_SON.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4qPJuGDynQI/UpT6byTNAkI/AAAAAAAAMpI/rDpyIyCzjxs/s200/Cover+-+IF_I_HAD_A_SON.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Remember how the nation was fixated on the trial of George Zimmerman who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in February 2012? When police arrived at the scene, it was obvious that it had been act of self- defense and, moreover, Florida’s Stand Your Ground law to protect people under attack rendered any further action unnecessary. Zimmerman was not initially charged, but then the politicians and race-hustlers got involved. The full story is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">If I Had a Son</b> by Jack Cashill ($25.95, WND Books). Cashill is one of the best investigative writers I know, His book sweeps away all the media-generated stereotypes, particular those of Martin who was portrayed as the victim of a racially-motivated crime. Indeed, in addition to the prosecution who brought charges against Zimmerman despite the judgment of the local police, the media saw the trial as a way to advocate opposition to the Second Amendment and aggravate race relations in the nation. Even the President weighed in saying, “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.” A lawyer himself, Obama surely should have known better than to insert himself in that fashion. It took a jury to put an end to the travesty that unfolded, finding Zimmerman innocent. Cashill’s account of the events and the trial is well worth reading, particularly for the information he provides about Martin who approached, threatened, and then assaulted Zimmerman while he waited for the police to arrive. He had already amassed a record for involvement with drugs and petty crime, as well as having been suspended from school three times in the 2011-2012 year. In the wake of the trial, though, it would appear that Zimmerman has become unhinged.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One book I always recommend at this time of year is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The World Almanac® and Book of Facts </b>($13.99) for the year ahead and the 2014 edition is a great compendium of facts that one can reach for at any time for information about the world, the nation, and data about the events that marked 2013, the U.S. economy, the States, science and technology, world history and culture, the U.S. government and so much more. The 2014 edition has new features that include “Marriage in America: A Changing Picture”, “Memorable Winter Olympics Moments”, and a “Voter Guide” you can consult for the forthcoming midterm elections. For a professional writer like myself, it is invaluable and for anyone else it will prove a useful tool to consult. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Dave Berg was a popular contributor to MAD Magazine and anyone who grew up enjoying the magazine will welcome news that his large body of hilarious cartoons from the 1950s to the 2000s has been gathered together in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dave Berg: Five Decades of “The Lighter Side of…” </b>($34.50, Running Press), a large format book that, it goes without saying, would make a great Christmas gift. It is part of a series “MAD’s Greatest Artists” and includes a rare 1970 interview and an essay by his daughter Nancy Berg. Organized by decade, the book starts with early cartoons that will be memorable to those who remained fans of the magazine. It’s like sitting down with an old, very funny, friend. Making people laugh for that long is truly an achievement.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x6a8h6bqFPg/UpT6lF7at6I/AAAAAAAAMpQ/6aYyP_tU_xs/s1600/Cover+-+Selfish+Giant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x6a8h6bqFPg/UpT6lF7at6I/AAAAAAAAMpQ/6aYyP_tU_xs/s200/Cover+-+Selfish+Giant.jpg" width="110" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Christmas is a time for gift-giving and receiving. For those who love books, there is a special attraction in classics that are beautifully&nbsp; leather-bound, illustrated, slipcased and produced with an eye to they’re becoming treasures that can be passed on from generation to generation. With this in mind, I will direct you to <a href="http://www.foliosociety.com/">The Folio Society</a> whose leather-bound, often slip-cased, selections will please the connoisseur and the beginner alike. Among its latest titles are The Great Gatsby with illustrations by Sam Wolfe Connelly that make it a special treat. Indeed, Folio Society books feature the work of great, contemporary illustrators. There’s Pride and Prejudice, and for the young and young at heart, The Princess and The Goblin. A gorgeous children’s book is Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant and Other Stories. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_VIHyqcFD_o/UpT6tyPHz6I/AAAAAAAAMpY/K8FpgM7brT8/s1600/Cover+-+Mr.+President.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_VIHyqcFD_o/UpT6tyPHz6I/AAAAAAAAMpY/K8FpgM7brT8/s200/Cover+-+Mr.+President.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">George Washington has become a mythic figure in American history. We know he led the Revolution to victory and then served two terms as our first President. Beyond that, however, Washington is largely unknown as a living, breathing person or as the astonishing leader, a man of often astonishing integrity, and most certainly qualities of leadership that took him through eight years of war with the greatest power of his time, Great Britain, and then as the man who shaped the presidency into the one we have to this day. We owe Harlow Giles Unger, a prodigious historian, a debt of gratitude for the latest of his more than twenty books, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mr. President: George Washington and the Making of the Nation’s Highest Office </b>($25.99, Da Capo Press). When he assumed the office, it has virtually no defined powers and an almost complete lack of power to influence events. By the time he left the office, he had established the seven pillars of presidential power that we take for granted today and that often remain subject to controversy when misused or abused. It was Washington that established the presidency’s powers to control foreign policy, military affairs, government finances, and federal law enforcement as well as “executive privilege.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Along the way as he recounts those years, we come to know Washington as a man who is aging, suffering from arthritis and other physical ills. We learn that he accepted public service even though he longed to return to his life as a successful farmer at Mount Vernon. Don’t miss out the pleasure and knowledge this book imparts. Another book inspired by the first President is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">George Washington’s Secret Six</b> by Brian Kilmeade and Dan Yaeger ($27.95, Sentinel, an imprint of Penguin Press). Most histories of the revolution have overlooked the full story of how Washington put together a remarkable network of spies, knowing he would be leading a long war of attrition against the British and would need the best information possible on their maneuvers. Best known as being on “Fox and Friends”, Kilmeade and his co-author have put together a fascinating story on the way his network gathered intelligence and spread false information. In particular it is the story of the Culper Ring led by Robert Townsend. Together they had achievements that uncovered all manner of schemes and, in particular, prevented Benedict Arnold from surrendering West Point to the enemy. The outcome of the revolution often hung on the work of these patriots. Anyone who loves American history will want to read this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Ever since 9/11 Americans have had to get up to speed on Islam as a virulent form of Islamo-fascism has forced them to address the terrorism that accompanies it. Another iconic figure, Thomas Jefferson, is famed for having an English translation of the Quran, the Islamic bible, which he purchased in 1765, eleven years before he wrote the Declaration of Independence. He was no fan of Islam, nor were other Americans who had any knowledge of it. Historian Denise A. Spellberg has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders </b>($27.95, Alfred A. Knopf) which The Daily Beast has described as “essential reading in these troubled times.” Like the other Founders, Jefferson was an avid reader and that informed many decisions he would make in the years in which he rose to fame. As President, Jefferson had to deal with Barbary pirates that were raiding American merchant ships and taken sailors hostage. That led to the creation of the U.S. Marine Corps and a mission to Tripoli to put an end to the raids. What we learn in this intriguing book is the hostility to Islam that was widely shared among early Americans. “Europeans and Americans after them, tended to be quite hostile to Islam,” writes Spellberg as we discover that the feelings modern Americans may feel were held by those who preceded them. The Constitution’s abolition of a religious test to hold public office is the reason a Muslim was sworn into office as a U.S. Senator in recent years. In Jefferson’s times, they were outsiders whose inclusion represented the furthest reach of toleration and rights in the new nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For anyone seeking to learn more about Islam, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Koranic Allusions: The Biblical, Qumranian, and Pre-Islamic Background to the Koran</b>, edited by Ibn Warraq, ($32.00, Prometheus Books) explores the evidence of the many influences from religious sources outside of Islam, incorporating stories in the Koran about Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other characters from the Bible that were drawn from the Jewish Torah and the Christian Gospels. Ibn Warraq is a scholar who has authored “Why I Am Not a Muslim”, “Defending the West”, and “Virgins, What Virgins? And Other Essays.” He is also the editor of “Leaving Islam, What the Koran Really Says” and other books that represent a great body of knowledge that anyone interested in Islam should most certainly read. Most Americans have not read the Qur’an (Koran) and would be astonished to discover its hostility to all other faiths can Islam. There is a reason for the turmoil in the world today that we trace to Islam and it is the call to jihad or holy war until all submit to Islam. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Honor and Betrayal: The Untold Story of the Navy SEALS Who Captured the “Butcher of Fallujah”—and the Shameful Ordeal They Later Endured </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Patrick Robinson ($26.99, Da Capo Press) is a case history of why morale in our armed forces today has been savaged by the “political correctness” that has been imposed on all the services. It is the story of a daring nighttime raid in September 2009 in which the SEALs grabbed the notorious terrorist, Ahmad Hashim Abd Al-Isawi, the mastermind behind the 2004 murder and mutilation of four American contractors. Instead of being hailed for their bravery and a successful mission, those in the chain of command gave greater weight to the claims of Al-Israwi that he had been abused, claiming he had been punched and given a bloody lip. What followed was pressure on the SEALs to sign confessions to “lesser charges”, but instead they each demanded a court martial to prove their innocence. When Americans became aware of this outrage, more the 350,000 signed petitions demanding that they be exonerated. Even U.S. congressmen petitioned the Pentagon to drop the charges. This is a story worth reading as a lesson of how far our military have strayed from its values under the pressure of an administration that gives greater credence to the word of a terrorist than to its own heroes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Many Americans are unaware of the millions who have died under communist regimes. One instance of this was the great Chinese famine from 1958 to 1962 and it is told in Yang Jisheng’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tombstone</b>, ($17.00, Farrar Straus Giroux, softcover). An estimated thirty million lives were needlessly and intentionally destroyed as the result of the megalomania of China’s leaders at the time. This is not easy reading because Jisheng has selected 121 internal reports from local officials to their bosses. They are frank, grisly, and specific portraits of the horrors. We need books like this to remind us that communism has no heart and never did. The astonishing thing about this book is that that author, a long-time journalist who worked for the Xinhua News Agency until his retirement in 2001, still lives in Beijing with his wife and two children. The fact that this book has been allowed publication suggests some greater flexibility by the current Chinese leadership. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A curious aspect of history is the fifty members of the 27 Club, famed musicians who died at age twenty-seven. The story of six is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">27</b> by Howard Sounes ($26.00, Da Capo Press) who focuses on Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse. For anyone with an interest in the music scene, this has to be ‘must’ reading as Sounes examines first their lives and, second, their deaths. All six had troubled childhoods, fast-paced lifestyles, and mental issues that led to depression and substance abuse, though Sounes argues that the most recent member, Winehouse, was different from the others because she had a stable, supportive family. Even someone like myself who did not follow their careers nor pay much attention to their music found this a fascinating book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of the best series of books filled with information about all manner of topics is Visible Ink Press’s “Handy Answer” series, particularly as regards history. Just out this month is the latest addition, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy African American History Answer Book </b>by Jessie Carney Smith, PhD ($21.95, Visible Ink Press, softcover). It is an extraordinary collection of data that highlights the history of black life in America, from those renowned to the lesser-known who made barrier-breakthroughs in the arts, entertainment, business, civil rights, education, government, military, journalism, religion, science, sports, music and so much more. It is filled with fascinating things such as who was Ringling Brothers’ first black woman clown? What is the oldest, non-church, published black newspaper? What was the first national Catholic black fraternal order? It is perfect for browsing and history buffs will love it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Memoirs<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Reading memoirs and biographies is a great way to learn life’s lessons through the experiences of others. We only get to live our own lives and must do so day by day. A memoir takes one to other places and can be read at one or more sittings. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UoHMvredOgI/UpT67Ap7cAI/AAAAAAAAMpg/K5x0VmJ34Nk/s1600/Cover+-Life+Inside+the+Bubble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UoHMvredOgI/UpT67Ap7cAI/AAAAAAAAMpg/K5x0VmJ34Nk/s200/Cover+-Life+Inside+the+Bubble.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I had expected <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Life Inside the Bubble: Why a Top-Ranked Secret Service Agent Walked Away From it All</b> by Dan Bongino ($00.00, WND Books) to provide some insights to what it was like to be in close proximity to President Obama. If that would be your reason to purchase it, save your money. Bongino gives away no secrets (no pun intended). Instead, it is a fairly prosaic recounting of his life from his days as cop with the New York City Police and his ambition to climb a career ladder that led to twelve years within the Secret Service and ultimately the elite unit that protects the presidents. Bongino has the set of values that we admire and there is nothing here to criticize in that regard. The book does not tell you much about what life for any President is like beyond what you might imagine on your own. The President’s days are tightly scripted and he is the most scrupulously protected person on the face of the Earth, but you already knew that, didn’t you? Indeed, there is very little in this slim memoir that will surprise you. Bongino who is running for public office is making headlines these days decrying the Obama administration, but you will not find that in his book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Perhaps only two percent of the U.S. population is composed of farmers and most Americans have little or no idea what it means to be one. I had never stepped foot on a farm until I began to travel widely in the 1980s as a photo-journalist. It is a very different lifestyle from the rest of us and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">One Woman Farm: My Life Shared with Sheep, Pigs, Chickens, Goats, and a Fine Fiddle</b> by Jenna Woginrich ($16.95, Storey Publishing) is a delightful introduction and insight to what it means to be a farmer. It is a finely crafted memoir of the author’s immersion into a life she had yearned for and how it differs from those in cities and suburbs. It is, as one might imagine, determined by the work of a farmer; one marked by seasons and the life cycles tending her plants and animals. There are days for gathering applies, for shearing, and for harvest as she chronicles a year running from October to October. It is hard work, but she enjoys it and you will enjoy this engaging memoir. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Graced With Orange </b>by Jamie C. Amelio ($24.95, Meadow Lane Publishing, Austin, TX) begins with a chance encounter in Cambodia with a little girl asking for a dollar so she can attend school. When Amelio visited the school she discovered a very different world from the one in which she had grown up. The visit to Cambodia turned into a mission to provide more schools and the creation of an organization, Caring for Cambodia.” CFC changed her life, made her marriage stronger, brought two Cambodian girls into her family, saved her son’s life, and is in every respect an inspiring memoir. At this point, the non-profit CFC has since 2003 helped change the lives of more than 6,400 Cambodian children. In our comfortable lives here in America, we are often blissfully ignorant of the challenges that those in other nations face. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Denis Healey, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, decided to take a year off and travel the world without any responsibilities. He wrote about that in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Breaking Free </b>and followed up with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Traveler </b>($12.95 each, Vingdinger Publishing, softcovers), He retired at 48 and is married with one son, Sean. They live in Warsaw, Poland these days. These two books chronicle the experiences, both exterior and interior, of a man in search of his own identity, facing his past and contemplating his future options. He relates some great encounters as he crossed Turkey, traveled throughout India, Thailand, Vietnam, Bali, and Australia. He learns about spirituality and religion, love, poverty, and even met with Mother Theresa at one point. An interesting man in his own right, his two books are entertaining and thought-provoking. Good reading for the sake of good reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Songs of Three Islands: A Memoir </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Millicent Monks ($18.95, Prospecta Press, Westport, CT, softcover) is subtitled “A personal tale of motherhood and mental illness in an iconic American family.” The family is the Carnegie’s, one associated with great wealth, but as the author notes, it also had a history of mental illness the affected four generations of women. It affected the author as well who searched for answers that led her to Jungian analysis, meditation, and sutras that enabled her to find a delicate peace which, having reached her sixth decade, she recounts. “If I can do something worthwhile to help people with children who are mentally ill,” says Monks, “I would think that was something worth accomplishing in my life.” Her daughter fell victim to it. Reading about mental illness can be disturbing, but the author puts it into a perspective that will help those who have encountered or are living through similar experiences and of the three women of the Carnegie family who endured it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Books for Kids &amp; Young Adults<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Somewhere under the Christmas tree there should be a book or two. There is a vast selection of books for kids from the very youngest to the older teens. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A Tree’s Christmas: A talking tree’s story of its Christmas adventures </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by James Andrew Bowen ($9.95, Clearview Communications, Tampa, FL) is now in its fifth season of establishing itself as a story that will be indelibly associated with the holiday. Bowen has been a lifelong journalist. He grew up in the rural south and had many memorable Christmas’s to recall. The story draws on one of them in which the ritual of taking the decorations off the tree and removing it to the garden to become mulch for the next year’s vegetables. Laying there in the cold, the little tree draws the attention of other trees and begins to share its story as told by Anne, a 13 year old who wonders if it might have occurred in a dream. It is a touching, tender story and one I would heartily recommend. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e6QxiCbjQ9U/UpubrHr69NI/AAAAAAAAMr0/_rRRuL9nYcM/s1600/Cover+-+Christmas+Tree+Elf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e6QxiCbjQ9U/UpubrHr69NI/AAAAAAAAMr0/_rRRuL9nYcM/s200/Cover+-+Christmas+Tree+Elf.jpg" width="200" /></a></div></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another tale is sure to become a favorite among the young set is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Christmas Tree Elf </b>($19.95, hardcover, $9.95 ebook, Valentine Sheldon Co.)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>by Valentine D’Arcy Sheldon and beautifully illustrated by Jeremiah Humphries. It tells a story about Mrs. Claus who always wanted a Christmas tree to decorate and Santa brings one home. They love the tree but become so busy preparing for Christmas that it is not until Christmas Eve that they realize they have not watered it. A Mysterious elf shows up to save the tree and teach them that all living things need care and attention. This book has garnered many excellent reviews and recommendations. You can add mine.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3k1s6xfB1DE/UpT7WhoETRI/AAAAAAAAMpw/EUgV7crfgQk/s1600/Cover+-+Top+Ten+in+Sports.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3k1s6xfB1DE/UpT7WhoETRI/AAAAAAAAMpw/EUgV7crfgQk/s200/Cover+-+Top+Ten+in+Sports.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For any boy or girl who loves sports, I would definitely ensure they receive <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sports Illustrated Kids – The Top Ten of Everything in Sports </b>($19.95, Time Home Entertainment) that ranks athletes, playing fields, rivalries, games, controversial calls, memorable moments and more. A large format book, it is extensively illustrated with photographs. The texts are short and crisp. It is amazing how much they packed into this book. It incorporate sports history and is filled with the kind of information that brings a wide range of sports to life, providing hours of reading that can be enjoyed in short bites. Some young adult fiction (age 12+) is served up in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Field</b> by Tracy Richardson ($15.95 hardcover, $11.95 softcover, Luminis Books). Eric Horton is a standout player on his high school soccer team, but he has been having terrible dreams that wake him up at night. He also has eyes for Renee, the hot new student from France. Could his prowess on the field, his feelings for Renee, and some strange experiments Renee’s dad is cooking up in the physic lab at the university be connected? This is a combination of the real world of soccer and the mystical world of the Universal Energy Field. This is a very imaginative novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For all children, there is the question of what they want to be when they grow up and Wigu Publishing, Laguna Beach, CA, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>is developing a series, starting with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When I Grow Up I Want to Be…in the U.S. Army </b>($12.95) which will be joined by books on being a teacher, a firefighter, and in the U.S. Navy. They are written by Mark Shyres and illustrated by Debbie Hefke who uses a combination of artwork and photos. I would imagine they are aimed at ages 7 to 10. Having served in the Army, I can confirm that the text provides a realistic depiction of what life in the service is like and, for example, points out the many different occupations that exist from doctors and lawyers, to military police and firefighters, as well, of course, as combat units. “No matter what the job or rank, each soldier’s duty is to protect our country against anyone who wants to hurt us or our country’s friends, or allies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Couldn’t have said it better myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Eric Shanower is an award-winning comic book artist with a love for the era of the Trojans and Athenians. His series <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Age of Bronze </b>is now into Book Two, “The Story of the Trojan War—Betrayal” ($28.99 hardcover, $18.99 softcover, Image Comics, Inc., Berkeley, CA) As the Greek and Trojan armies clash, the action begins immediately where the previous volume left off. It’s the first battle in a war that will last for ten long years. Achilles fights Hektor while the beautiful Helen watches the battle from high on the walls of Troy. Shanower’s artistry depicts the story with elegant pen-and-ink drawings that make the action seem to spring off the page. One usually associates graphic novels with the young set, but an older reader will enjoy this series with equal pleasure. History, its myths and legends come alive in this series.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In no particular order let’s look at just some of the usual monthly deluge of softcover books that have arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Felix F. Giordano has created a great character in Sheriff Jim Buchanan who is patterned after his real-life uncle, Carl “Buck” Buchanan, who had a twenty-year career with the Maine State Police. Even fiction needs to be grounded in reality and you can enjoy three novels by Giordano, the latest of which is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Montana Harvest </b>($14.00, softcover, available from Amazon.com for $12.52) that joins “Mystery at Little Bitteroot” and “The Killing Zone” in this series. Set in the fictional Cedar Country, Montana, Buchanan is approached by the FBI concerning a missing persons investigation, it turns out that not only his own life, but also the life of the person dearest to his heart is at risk as well. Told mostly with excellent dialogue, it’s one of the stories whose characters immediately intrigue the reader and you will be pleased when you read this and his other novels.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X6l0sF1h960/UpT7j1b-1XI/AAAAAAAAMp4/Zs318a11KaI/s1600/Cover++-+Sister+Season.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X6l0sF1h960/UpT7j1b-1XI/AAAAAAAAMp4/Zs318a11KaI/s200/Cover++-+Sister+Season.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Making her adult fiction debut with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Sister Season</b>, ($15.00, NAL softcover) Jennifer Scott is an award-winning young adult author under another name. This novel is generally called women’s fiction because it will have a strong appeal for women readers. It features three sisters who discover that coming home for the holidays isn’t as easy as it seems. Growing up, the holidays were joyous times with laughter all around, but the years have taken their toll on the family bonds as they went their separate ways. This time they have returned home to bury their father. As you might imagine, old conflicts surface and new secrets are revealed against the background of what should have been a happier Christmas. Readers will enjoy getting to know Claire, the youngest, Julia the eldest, and Maya the middle child. All have gone on to different lives, but ultimately, they have to answer the question, when you are a sister, aren’t you a sister for life? <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Love is on the mind of Edith M. Cortese, the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Thousand Years of Johnny Von </b>($19.25, Trumpet Boy Press, Los Angeles) as she tells the story of Estella, a single, 33-year-old woman who happens to live on the same street as a rising movie star, Johnny Von, and would very much like to get to know him as she pursues her job as a Hollywood Hills dog-walker. She has her own dog, Moochie, and, despite being a bit shy, he is gorgeous enough for her to overcome her doubts and get to meet him and make him fall in love with her. She is filled with “what if” fantasies that draw on classic love stories that will surely entertain you as she seeks to turn fantasy into reality as her Cinderella figures out to capture the heart of Prince Charming.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another romance is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Color of Home</b>by Rich Marcello ($15.99, Langdon Street Press, softcover). Nick and Sassa are guarded, skeptical survivors who have skillfully buried the effects of tragic pasts. They are two New Yorkers who have a series of intimate conversations that cause they to fall in love and begin a remarkable journey toward their true selves, toward the healing that makes they whole again, toward finding home. This is a thoroughly modern love story about being willing to be vulnerable, to rise above loss, and to create and nourish a unique love for one another. You will enjoy the journey that Nick, a successful music entrepreneur, and Sassa, a free-spirited chef discover together. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iMB2A9mxf8Q/UpT7s6G2jMI/AAAAAAAAMqA/0fgUlah1WJQ/s1600/Cover+-+Killer+Weed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iMB2A9mxf8Q/UpT7s6G2jMI/AAAAAAAAMqA/0fgUlah1WJQ/s200/Cover+-+Killer+Weed.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those who enjoy a good mystery, there’s the gripping <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Killer Weed</b> by Michael Castleman ($14.95, MP Publishing, Petaluma, CA), a tour through a marriage under duress, forty years of pot dealing in America, and two murders, one contemporary, the other a cold case from 1968. The reader gets an interesting history of how marijuana was introduced, starting with importation from Mexico, then progressed to Colombian freighters, and was followed by growing in remove national forests, until it was grown indoors under solar-powered lights. Cannabis prohibition in the present day is also a theme of the book. You will go from San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury in the late 1960’s and two murders that join the neighborhood to its Golden Gate Park. It is the fourth Ed Rosenberg Mystery set in that city. This is an emotionally complex, character-driven story that begins when Ed and his wife Julie are fired from their jobs at the San Francisco Foghorn (a fictionalized Chronicle) and, with two kids and a huge mortgage, turn to using drugs to cope. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There are thrills to be had in Harry Hunsicker’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Contractors </b>($14.95, Thomas and Mercer, softcover). He is a seasoned novelist of three previous novels and is the former executive vice president of the Mystery Writers of America. A fourth generation native of Dallas, he knows how to draw you in and keep you turning the pages. In this novel, he takes the reader into the shadowy world of private military contractors and the hypocrisies of the “War on Drugs”, featuring a disgraced former Dallas PD officer, John Cantrell. He and his partner/lover, Piper, make their living busting drug shipments along the U.S.-Mexico border for commissions. One such seizure puts them in possession of a star witness in an upcoming cartel trial. The cartel has other ideas and they soon find themselves in the crosshairs of the cartel, a group of competing contractors, and a corrupt Dallas police officer with nothing to lose. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;">That’s it for December and the year 2013 that was filled with some remarkable fiction and non-fiction that Bookviews.com has reported upon over the past months. Tell your book-loving friends, family and co-workers about Bookviews.com, the most eclectic look at the current literary scene. And get ready to come back in January 2014 for more!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 80.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span>&nbsp;</div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-21524292493346134492013-11-01T07:11:00.000-07:002013-11-01T09:17:54.836-07:00Bookviews - November 2013<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dtVb01rB77U/UmgPwMDPsdI/AAAAAAAAMWE/oPdj5-d1H24/s1600/Cover+-+America+3.0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dtVb01rB77U/UmgPwMDPsdI/AAAAAAAAMWE/oPdj5-d1H24/s200/Cover+-+America+3.0.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Move over Nostradamus, James C. Bennett and Michael J. Lotus have looked into their crystal balls and jointly come up with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">America 3.0: Rebooting American Prosperity in the 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> Century—why America’s Greatest Days are Yet to Come </b>(25.99, Encounter Books). Over the years I have read any number of comparable books that have attempted to look into the future, some more successfully than others—perhaps because change has become so rapid since the end of World War Two. Anyone with an interest in the broad outlines of American history and curiosity about how the various national and international realignments will affect the future will find this book an interesting, well informed analysis of what may lay ahead. Bennett was cofounder of two private space transportation companies and other technology ventures. He has written extensively on technology, culture and society with a particular emphasis on the Anglosphere, the shared history of English speaking nations. Lotus has a BA in economics from the University of Chicago and a JD from Indiana University. He practices law when, like his coauthor, he is not writing about history and politics. Together, they bring their considerable knowledge to address whether the U.S. will undertake the reforms it needs to fix its economy, even suggesting that some of our larger states may divide into smaller, more manageable ones. Both agree that, at the heart of our nation is the nuclear family. This is, quite frankly, a book that will challenge your beliefs and ideas on every page. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">When the Supreme Court rationalized that the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, was a tax and not legislation in direct conflict with several elements of the U.S. Constitution, not the least of which is its Commerce Clause, it set off a firestorm of resistance that we are seeing today. Clark M. Neily III has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Terms of Engagement: How Our Courts Should Enforce the Constitution’s Promise of Limited Government </b>($23.99, Encounter Books) in which he argues that America’s judges have abandoned a key feature of the Constitution, its limits on government. He deems the ACA one of the most blatantly unconstitutional pieces of legislation since the expansion of federal power during the era of the New Deal. Neily is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice where he litigates constitutional cases involving economic liberty, property rights, free speech and school choice, among others. He makes a powerful case that the nation is being radically transformed from its founding principles to one where property rights and economic freedom are in jeopardy as the Supreme Court routinely protects government prerogatives at the expense of liberty. To understand what is happening and why, I recommend you read this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For anyone who grew up on the plains of America or still lives there and loves its vistas, there is a book of photography by David Plowden, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Heartland: The Plains and the Prairie </b>($75.00, W.W. Norton), a large format collection of black and white photos that will conjure up memories and provide a lot of pleasure with their stark testimony to the beauty of vast expanses, long roads, silos and distant farmhouses. While the Midwestern flatlands cover nearly a quarter of the North American continent, spanning 73 million square miles between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians, they are largely unknown to the bulk of the population that lives on the nation’s coasts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This is a visual return to the land that feeds Americans and whose exports feed many others as well. For those from cities and suburbs, the book evokes the immense distance, the flowing grasslands, ever distant horizons, and dominating skies of the Midwest. Plowden has more than twenty photography books to his credit and this one will make a great Christmas gift for someone who fondly recalls the great plains and prairie, the heartland.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My late Mother gained recognition as a teacher of haute cuisine and author of cookbooks, so food was always a topic of conversation in my home. It is a topic, too, in magazines, on websites, and continues to generate new cookbooks. If you are a “foodie” then you will surely enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Best Food Writing 2013 </b>edited by Holly Hughes ($15.99, Da Capo Press, softcover). Its seven sections, ranging from “A Critical Palate” to “Home Cooking”, has plenty to enjoy as various trends are explored such as the growing interest in buying locally grown veggies and fruits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Ms. Hughes has edited this series since its inception in 2000 and she has produced another winner this year, too. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EnlYJixj7wg/UmliiRPmzAI/AAAAAAAAMYw/raNTqVll1oE/s1600/Cover+-+Sassy+Cookies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EnlYJixj7wg/UmliiRPmzAI/AAAAAAAAMYw/raNTqVll1oE/s200/Cover+-+Sassy+Cookies.jpg" width="197" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">While on the topic of food, one of my favorites is cookies. Happily, Luane Kohnke has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sassy Cookies: Sweet, Spicy &amp; Savory Treats with Swagger </b>($19.95, Pelican Publishing Company). The author’s wholesale bakery in New York specializes in cookies catering to corporate clients. Her book provides more than forty original recipes, all of which are gluten-free. They include Lemony White Chocolate, Chocolate Shortbread, and Hazelnut Cream Sandwich Cookies. One section is devoted to cookies that are an accompaniment to soups, salads, and fruit-and-cheese trays. Suffice to say, in addition to the classics, there are some tasty treats you will want to try for their originality. If you’re a chocaholic like me, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Chocolate Desserts to Die For! </b>(26.95, Pelican Publishing Company) by Bev Shaffer that will keep you happily baking and eating for years to come. Even a novice can master the recipes. How about a Chocolate Crumb-Crusted Chocolate-Caramel Cheesecake? All I can say is “Yummy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There are two books from Zest Books this month, one or both of which is sure to please you or someone you know. One is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Why? Answers to Everyday Scientific Questions</b> by Joel Levy ($10.99, softcover) and the other is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How Not to Be a Dick: An Everyday Etiquette Guide </b>by Maghan Doherty ($16.95) aimed at those aged 18 and up. The former offers answers to common questions that often are not taught despite years in school or college. It is lots of fun to read as Levy provides answer to why we don’t eat grass, why trees drop their leaves, why we sleep or dream, and the classic, why is the sky blue? The latter book will prove quite helpful in a world filled with people who behave like idiots who cut into line in front of us or kick the back of our seat at movies. How does one deal with them? Ms. Doherty offers some straightforward advice on how to deal with challenging social situations—with roommates, relationships, in the office, etc.—to the point where you will be prepared. It is a very useful book for a younger person at a point where they leave the comfort zone of home and go out into the world and for the older reader who feels ill at ease in social situations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hGIMSKA4bwE/UmgQSUpBBZI/AAAAAAAAMWM/SD_rjEmsLWw/s1600/Cover+-+What+God+has+Joined.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hGIMSKA4bwE/UmgQSUpBBZI/AAAAAAAAMWM/SD_rjEmsLWw/s200/Cover+-+What+God+has+Joined.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I am happy to report that Jeffrey Bennett’s latest volume to his “America, the Grand Illusion” has been published. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What God has Joined </b>($29.95, Kettle Moraine Publishing, softcover) and it joins previous volumes “Orphans of the Storm”, “From Revolutions to Evil-ution”, “The Edge of Darkness”, and an “Uncertain Glory.” The special genius of these volumes and the latest is that they take the actual documents, speeches, and published records from a specific time period in U.S. history and bring them together in a way that enables the reader to grasp what people at that time where thinking, writing, and saying. In the process, these volumes free our history from the mythologies that have grown up with it to focus directly on what was occurring. This particular volume takes the reader from just before the Civil War to its end and the first steps toward reconstruction. Imagine, for example, being able to read the constitution of the Confederacy? Or the actual wording of the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott case? All the major players from John Brown to Stephen Douglas to Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, among a large cast, are represented here. Anyone who loves reading history as much as I do knows the value of these volumes. They are priceless.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I have lost count of how many Illinois governors have ended up in jail, but the latest one is Rod Blagojevich and the story of his rise and fall is captured in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Only in Chicago: How the Rod Blagojevich Scandal Engulfed Illinois and Enthralled the Nation </b>by Natasha Korecki ($16.00, Agate Publishing, softcover). Ms. Korecki had a front-row seat for the trial of Blogo and before him, George Ryan. She is a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. In December 2008, Gov. Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges that ignited a political firestorm that reverberated all the way to the White House when he was charged with attempting to sell then-President-Elect Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat. As a courts reporter, the author began to write “The Blago Blog” and this book reflects all the many twists and turns the case followed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xRrN8aVln4E/UmgQfkgRWZI/AAAAAAAAMWU/wgIek_RSOw8/s1600/Cover+-+New+Mexico.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xRrN8aVln4E/UmgQfkgRWZI/AAAAAAAAMWU/wgIek_RSOw8/s200/Cover+-+New+Mexico.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">New Mexico: A History </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Joseph P. Sanchez, Robert L. Spude and Art Gomez ($26.95, University of Oklahoma Press) marks the first complete history of this state in more than thirty years. It will greatly please anyone who was born there or lives there today, but also anyone interested in a state that preceded its U.S. history as a place of Spanish exploration and settlement. From well before the founding and after New Mexico was known for the Camino Real, the Santa Fe Trail, and for the railroads and famed Route 66 provided access. It was admitted to the Union in 1912 but modernization began in earnest after World War Two. Its history makes for a rich reading experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Have you ever wondered where the punctuation marks we take for granted came from? Keith Houston has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shady Characters</b>($25.95, W.W. Norton) to provide a fascinating glimpses into the tumultuous history of some of our most familiar, but little understood, punctuation marks. It spans ancient history to today as it marries a history of typography with cultural criticism and social history as he tracks the evolution of eleven punctuation marks from the interrobang (?) to the asterisk (*) and the others our mind processes as we enjoy whatever we’re reading. Along the way you will learn how punctuation is intimately bound up with religion, technology, culture and the desire to accurately represent one’s self on paper or these days, on computer screens. For those who delve deeply into literature, a book originally published more than sixty years ago, Robert Graves’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth</b> ($18.00, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, softcover) has been reissued. It reflects Graves’s vast reading and curious research into the territories of folklore, mythology, religion and magic. It is, simply said, the work of a poet-scholar and, if you find such matters of interest, you will welcome this new edition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Lives of Real People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Paul Johnson is one of the greatest living historians and has written biographies of Napoleon, Churchill, and Darwin. Now he has given us an illuminating, concise biography of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mozart: A Life </b>($25.95, Viking) that everyone who loves his music will want to read along with others who find the history of music of interest. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of the most prolific and influential composers of all time, winning new fans with each new generation. His compositional output was prodigious, but you may not know that he had such a gift that he mastered all the instruments except the harp. When the clarinet was invented he learned to play it as well and added it to his arrangements. Many myths have grown up around Mozart and Johnson challenges many of them including those about his health, wealth, religion and relationships to his family. He debunks the popular myth that he was a tortured soul who died in poverty. As always, the truth is more interesting than the fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Norman Rockwell is arguably the best known artist and illustrator in America. Now there’s a biography, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell </b>($28.00, Farrar Straus Giroux). For four decades his paintings were on the covers of The Saturday Evening Post, one of the most popular magazines of its time. His images of small-time America evoked an earlier era, but one many senior citizens can still recall. They symbolized the culture and values of the nation. He died in 1978<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>and now Deborah Solomon, a long-time New York Times interviewer, art critic and biographer of Jackson Pollock and Joseph Carnell, has written a biography that is both thorough and surprising as it reveals an obsessed man who may have repressed his true sexuality throughout his life. His strongest relationships were with men despite marriage and a family. A decade in the making this biography is a triumph of research and attention to detail. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ropa5lwnyZs/UmgRLJx7QgI/AAAAAAAAMWk/sB9imuYhVBs/s1600/Cover+-+Pinkerton+Great+Detective.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ropa5lwnyZs/UmgRLJx7QgI/AAAAAAAAMWk/sB9imuYhVBs/s200/Cover+-+Pinkerton+Great+Detective.jpg" width="131" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Pinkerton’s Great Detective: The Amazing Life and Times of James McParland </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Beau Riffenburgh ($32.95, Viking) marks the first biography of a man who was a legend in his time after he had infiltrated the Molly Maguires, a brutal Irish-American brotherhood responsible for sabotage and at least 16 murders in the Pennsylvania coalfields. His two-year effort resulted in 19 trials and that was just the beginning of his career. He led the und for Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch and was so well known at one point that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle invented a meeting between him and the fictional Sherlock Holmes. In time he became known as “The Great Detective” and the biography is filled with stories of outlaws and criminals, detectives and lawmen, based on the archives of the celebrated secretive agency and its premier sleuth. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Linda Rodrigues McRobbie ($19.95, Quirk Books) is lively reading for anyone who enjoys history divested of the mythology that so often accompanies it. Little girls may dream of being princesses and others may follow the lives of modern day princesses such as Lady Diana, Grace Kelly, and now Kate Middleton, history provides many real princesses, whether royal by birth or marriage, who fought, stole, schemed, and partied as they made their way through a complicated world in which they were often chattel in arranged marriages whose job was to produce royal offspring. From Olga of Kiev (ca. 890-969) who avenged her husband’s death by slaughtering almost the entire Derevlian kingdom to Stephanie von Hohenlohe (1891-1972) who charmed her way into the heart (and out of the prisons) of both the Nazi Party and Lyndon B. Johnson, the ladies in this book offer a lot of entertaining and interesting reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting Down to Business Books<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Someone ought to send the White House a copy of Michael Wheeler’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World </b>($26.00, Simon and Schuster). There has been no dearth of books on how to negotiate and they fall into the “win-win” method and the hard bargaining style. Wheeler, an award-winning Harvard Business School professor offers a third option. As he points out, “Negotiation can’t be scripted. Yet as negotiators we have to persist even when information is ambiguous, boundaries are hazy, and the scene is constantly changing.” He notes that master negotiators regard the challenge as one of learning, adapting, and, of course, influencing. His book offers an improvisational approach and shows how many different fields of endeavor use the techniques he recommends. Having taught the art of negotiation to thousands of MBA students, executives, managers, and public officials, his book now provides the reader the lessons they have enjoyed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EioI6uEkH2g/UmgQyFWHtnI/AAAAAAAAMWc/OXMFWl2L3cY/s1600/Cover+-+Unlimited+Sales+Success.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EioI6uEkH2g/UmgQyFWHtnI/AAAAAAAAMWc/OXMFWl2L3cY/s200/Cover+-+Unlimited+Sales+Success.png" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I once had a teacher who said that “Nothing ever happens until someone sells something to someone else.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>If your livelihood depends on sales than you just might want to pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unlimited Sales Success: 12 Simple Steps for Selling More Than You Ever Thought Possible </b>by Brian and Michael Tracy ($22.95, Amacom). Brian has trained thousands of people and still found time to write 55 books that have been translated into 38 languages. Michael is the vice president of sales and business development at Analog Analytics, a software company that was acquired by Barclays Plc in 2012. For either the novice or the person who has been in sales a while, the book provides advice on how to spot and avoid a poor prospect, how to turn indifferent customers into buyers, and lots of other tips that improve one’s prospects. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The BossHole Effect: Three Simple Steps Anyone Can Follow to Become a Great Boss and Lead a Successful Team </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">($16.99, Mill City Press, softcover) by Dr. Greg L. Alston is a short, easy to read book on how to become a respected, effective leader. He defines a BossHole as someone who behaves like an imbecile but has the authority to impact others’ lives. Dr. Alston has worked extensively in the chain drug and healthcare industries, supervising thousands of employees, working for hundreds of bosses, and “thwarting BossHoles at every turn.” He is currently both Associate Professor of Pharmacy Management and Assistant Dean for Assessment at Wingate University School of Pharmacy in North Carolina. Suffice to say he brings a lot of experience to this guide that offers a step-by-step strategy by which readers can become great bosses with minimum struggle and maximum success. We all encounter BossHoles in our careers and this book will teach you how to effectively deal with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For a quick laugh, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Your Guide to Spotting and Outing Bloodsuckers at Work: A Little Book of Monstrous Puns </b>by Rita Harris and Heather Harwood ($17.99, Authorhouse, softcover). Working off the vampire theme, these two come up with a variety of puns that, for example, turn a chef into Count Spatula. Don’t say you weren’t warned! It would make a cute gift for anyone suffering a horrid boss or co-workers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Advice, Advice, Advice<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I wish I had read more books of advice when I was younger. Fortunately I had parents that offered a lot of good advice, but as often as not one needs to learn from others and, if they have demonstrated they expertise, their books are often a very good investment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As a semi-retired senior citizen, I wish that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Failure is NOT an Option: Creating Certainty in the Uncertainty of Retirement </b>($14.95, Incubation Press, Bend, Oregon, softcover) had been around when I was younger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Written by David Rosell has extensive credentials as a financial planner and, as ten thousand “baby boomers” are reaching retirement age every day, many discover they are not ready and not able to stop working and enjoy their senior years. If you or someone you know are approaching the age of retirement, this book will prove an invaluable source of financial survival tips about the eight fundamental risks every retiree faces, providing strategies to avoid mistakes and turn existing adversity around. This book is not the usual advice about just putting money away for retirement. It goes well beyond that. The book comes with a rousing endorsement by Charles R. Schwab, Jr. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9pMVKIsCyiU/UmgRapWLsSI/AAAAAAAAMWs/ekByAQxKhtY/s1600/Cover+-+He-Wins-She-Wins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9pMVKIsCyiU/UmgRapWLsSI/AAAAAAAAMWs/ekByAQxKhtY/s200/Cover+-+He-Wins-She-Wins.jpg" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There’s plenty of advice for couples on how to resolve conflicts in marriage and we know that half of all marriages these days end in divorce despite the high hopes when the knot is tied. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">He Wins, She Wins: Learning the Art of Marital Negotiation </b>by Dr. Willard F. Harley, Jr. ($19.99. Revell), a clinical psychologist, marriage counselor, and author, has as its ultimate goal recommendations that will help couples grow in their love for one another. At one point he advises, “Never do anything without the enthusiastic agreement between you and your spouse.” Is that possible? It is if they address the way emotional reactions often prevent calm discussion or neither of you want to talk about an issue. There’s a problem, too, if you or both are indecisive. His previous book, “His Needs, Her Needs” sold more than two million copies, so you can be confident that this one contains advice that will help overcome the problems that every married couple encounters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I confess I have always had a problem with trust. I suspect a lot of other do too. That’s why I think Ellen Castro’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spirited Leadership: 52 Ways to Build Trust </b>($14.95, Langdon Street Press, softcover) will likely be very helpful to anyone with a similar outlook. She earned her Med from Harvard and an MBA from Southern Methodist University where she served on the faculty of The Business Leadership Center. She is, in fact, an example of the advice she offers, learning it through experience and then translating it into practical, uplifting, concise, “how-to” exercises that benefit those who are successful and inspiring hope in those who feel hopeless. It is a book about emotional intelligence, social skills, and people smarts. These are essential skills if one is to travel through life courageously.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">When Life Hurts: Finding Hope and Healing from the Pain Your Carry</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Jimmy Evans with Frank Martin ($21.99, Baker Books) will no doubt prove helpful to those who carry the hurt that comes with divorce, abuse, illness or the loss of a loved one, among other forms of emotional pain. Evans is the cofounder with his wife, Karen, of Marriage Today, a television ministry, and together they have authored a number of books on marriage and family. No stranger to emotional pain, Evans shares his own life experiences and, as one might expect, incorporates faith in God to deal with deep-seated wounds. The book is enhanced by the skills of Martin who has collaborated with others including Dr. Robert Schuller and has been a family commentary writer for Focus on the Family for the past fifteen years. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">School Skills<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I used to hate taking tests in school. It was more an attitude than lack of preparedness, but nowadays the entire educational system from coast to coast has been taken over by standardized tests—a very bad idea since any teacher will tell you that students learn at their individual rate, mastering different subjects as individuals, not as a bunch of robots in a classroom. That’s why two books by Elie Venezky, available from </span><a href="http://www.prestigeprep.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.prestigeprep.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">, are worth checking out; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Test Prep</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sanity</b>, a guide for parents, and<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Test Prep Sanity for Students </b>($13.46 paperback, $9.99 Kindle). Both have a track record of success based on the author’s 14 years of helping students prepare for tests and 20 years working with teenagers. Love’m or hate’m, youngsters have to take tests so any parent that takes the time to learn how to help and any student who learns how to take tests is going to be at a definite advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Getting into the college of one’s choice is another challenge and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Prepare a Standout College Application</b> by Alison Cooper Chisolm and Anna Ivey ($16.95, Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley, softcover) offers advice based on the author’s experience as college admissions professionals who now work together at Ivey College Consulting, based in Cambridge, MA. A book like this can make all the difference between acceptance or rejection. In a fiercely competitive world, this is often the first step. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Woof, Woof! <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-58fEVTUpnfA/UmgRleysAqI/AAAAAAAAMW4/bK3H4pKV_8E/s1600/Cover+-+mama-and-boris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-58fEVTUpnfA/UmgRleysAqI/AAAAAAAAMW4/bK3H4pKV_8E/s200/Cover+-+mama-and-boris.jpg" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There are dog people and cat people. For the former, there are a number of recent books they are likely to enjoy, starting with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mama &amp; Boris: How a Sister’s Love Saved a Fallen Soldier’s Beloved Dogs </b>($19.99, Reader’s Digest). Written by Carey Neesley with Michael Levin, Carey was very close with her brother, Peter, and naturally she worried about him when he was sent to Iraq as part of his Army service. In weekly calls, Peter told her of adopting a stray dog and her pups. When three of them died, Peter became committed to saving the remaining two, Mama and Boris. However, on Christmas Day, Peter was killed. Carey wanted to honor his memory by bringing the dogs home to Michigan. Not the easiest task since they were halfway around the world, but she was assisted by a network of heroes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This is a wonderful story.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">According to HelpGuide.org, pets can detect and affect their owner’s mood, blood pressure, and overall health. Many have become therapy dogs, visiting hospitals to lift the spirits of those recovering from illness, particularly children. They also visit nursing homes. Kathryn Walter has written a novella, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Babbette’s Pack</b> ($26.99, Xlibris.com) based on true medical cases and featuring her Shih Tzu named Babette as the heroine, a dog that can detect fictionalized, but actual canine skills to predict seizures, low blood surge, and other events. “I was inspired,” said Walter, “to write this book from my time as a physician’s assistant and RN.” <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sushi: The Lhaso Apso—A Love Story </b>($14.95, softcover) is the story of how a little dog gained the love of one family and the legacy she eventually left behind. Claudia and Paul Elhoff tell the story of how Sushi became a part of their lives and how she bravely battled recurring cancer. Readers who have gone through the pain of losing a pet to illness or old age will especially relate to this heart-warming story. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lZ_NWVNVQQ0/UmgSdEuOwxI/AAAAAAAAMXc/1fe9-04Wd1A/s1600/Cover+-+Throw+the+Damn+Ball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lZ_NWVNVQQ0/UmgSdEuOwxI/AAAAAAAAMXc/1fe9-04Wd1A/s200/Cover+-+Throw+the+Damn+Ball.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For some laughter and fun, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Throw the Damn Ball: Classic Poetry by Dogs </b>($15.00, a Plume original) that purports to be an anthology of poetry written by dogs and “edited” by R. D. Rosen<span style="color: #333333;">, Harry Pritchett, and Rob Battles. These are poems about things that really matter to dogs, love, loss, sex, friendship, meals, and bodily functions. These three have collaborated on bestsellers, “Bad Dog”, “Bad Cat”, and “Bad President.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>While dogs may be man’s best friend, the “poets” do not ignore their owner’s faults and frailties. There are 112 poems in this book which should be on your gift list for anyone who has a dog. It is hilarious.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For the kid who’s age 7 to 9, there is a very unique book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Bee Society</b>, ($15.95, The Bee Society Press, LLC) that the author would have you believe was written by Georgie Bee, a honey bee who has taken it upon himself to explain the life of bees to humans. He is quite chatty and charming, and the book is extensively illustrated with both artwork and photos, but it is the text that provides both entertainment and information about, well, bees. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pcwhEAh2BXk/UmgRu-DQSRI/AAAAAAAAMW8/052X_kxdMu0/s1600/Cover+-+last+enchanter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pcwhEAh2BXk/UmgRu-DQSRI/AAAAAAAAMW8/052X_kxdMu0/s200/Cover+-+last+enchanter.jpg" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">From Tanglewood Publishing come two novels that pre-teens, 8 to 12, will enjoy. This first is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last Enchanter: The Celestine Chronicles—Book Two</b> by Laurisa White Reyes ($16.96). Book one, “The Rock of Ivanore”, was a bestseller, but now it has been months since Marcus and Kelvin succeeded in their quest to find it. Kelvin is living as royalty in Dokur and Marcus is studying magic with Zyll. Then Fredric is murdered and Kelvin becomes king, it is evident that neither is safe. This is a wonderfully written sequel, filled with action, magic, and adventure. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Deepest Blue </b>by Kim Williams Justesen ($15.99) explores the problems when a teen finds himself at the center of a struggle when his birth mom wants custody even though there has been no contact for five years, Mike the young teen has been living with his father whose girlfriend has been like a mother to him. Mike has to take on the legal system despite the fact that he has no legal rights in cases of death or divorce. For those 12 and older, this is a deeply moving story. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There are so many novels being published every month that it’s nice to know that one can become reacquainted with authors we may have missed out on reading earlier. For example, Kurt Vonnegut, best known for “Slaughterhouse Five”, was around awhile and evolving as a writer. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">We Are What We Pretend to Be </b>($12.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) is a collection of his first and last unpublished works with an introduction written by his daughter, Nanette. We see his budding talent in “Basic Training” as well as his last, unfinished novel, “If God Were Alive Today.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The two stories are bookends to his life. Similarly, David Mamet is famed as a stage and film director as well as a playwright, notably for “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “The Verdict.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Three novellas have been gathered into a book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Three War Stories</b>, by Mamet and self-published by Argo Navis Author Services. One assumes it is available via Amazon and other outlets. Suffice to say Mamet is a great talent and his book is more proof of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mj9Rfwzaxmk/UmgR5f9m5cI/AAAAAAAAMXE/ifpaveVvhik/s1600/Covwe+-+Loose+Ends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mj9Rfwzaxmk/UmgR5f9m5cI/AAAAAAAAMXE/ifpaveVvhik/s200/Covwe+-+Loose+Ends.jpg" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I enjoyed James Phoenix’s previous novel, “Frame Up”, the first in the Fenway Burke Mystery Series, so I was pleased to receive <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Loose Ends</b> ($27.95, White Cap Publishing, Weymouth, MA) and not surprised to hear he had inherited the fans of Robert B. Parker as well as Raymond Chandler. He’s that good. Unlike most detective heroes, Burke is happily married and even a feminist. It’s a combination of old and new detective genre as we greet Burke again aboard his floating home in Marblehead, Massachusetts, his wife, baby daughter, and two enormous English Mastiffs, really big dogs. Burke is introduced to a man in his 90s, Morris Gold, a legendary money man for the mob. His grandson’s wife has disappeared without a trace, but he doesn’t want the police involved. When he takes on the case, it has a lot of loose ends and the chase takes him to New York City, then Venezuela and Columbia. Getting her home is going to require all his skills and courage. Fortunately, he has plenty to spare.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The other novels this month are all softcovers and I will wander through the stack with no particular direction in mind. Laura Spinella returns with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Perfect Timing</b> ($15.00, Berkley Publishing). It is a romance in which Isabel Lang, a young woman, has moved from New Jersey to Alabama where she forms an unlikely friendship with the musically gifted Aidan Roycroft. They share everything from a first kiss to family secrets, but a tragedy at the town’s time-honored gala causes them to flee to Las Vegas. Seven years later, Aiden is now a famed rock star and Isabel is working at a radio station. I won’t tell you more in order to avoid spoiling the story. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Secrets She Carried</b> marks the debut of Barbara Davis ($15.00, New American Library) and a very good one as she invites us along with Leslie Nichols, the main character, to a discovery of a family’s long-buried past. Leslie does not have happy memories of Peak Plantation, the scene of an unhappy childhood that included her mother’s death and her father’s disgrace. When her grandmother, Maggie, dies, Leslie isn’t the only one who was left with the property. Jay Davenport, its caretaker, has a claim to it as well and Maggie has told Jay a terrible secret. Leslie and Jay will uncover the kind of secret that transforms one’s life forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sHWrCXuV8nM/UmgSTRKsXZI/AAAAAAAAMXU/2_DVt9ZDplA/s1600/Cover+-+The+Publicist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sHWrCXuV8nM/UmgSTRKsXZI/AAAAAAAAMXU/2_DVt9ZDplA/s200/Cover+-+The+Publicist.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I hear from book publicists all the time. It’s one thing to write a novel, but it takes real know-how to promote one. Christina George is a book industry insider and has written a series called “The Publicist” in which the second novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shelf Life</b>, is just off the presses ($8.00, via Amazon.com). Publishing is filled with people who have huge egos, often unrealistic expectations, and some who write books whose shelf life can be measured in days. Kate Mitchell is the publicist and trouble arrives when one of her star authors is led away in handcuffs. At about the same time her career and love affair hit the “off” button. She had to rebuild her life and, as fate would have it, her name becomes synonymous with a huge bestseller. This is what is often called “chick lit” because the girls will really enjoy it more than the guys. Also in the genre is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Love Waltzes In b</b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">y Alana Albertson ($9.99, Bolero Books) which has an uncanny resemblance to Dancing With the Stars, he popular television show. In her novel, Ms. Albertson, a former competitive ballroom dancer, pulls back the curtain to expose the sex, lies and secrets that remain hidden behind the glitzy costumes and fast moves in this, her debut as a novelist. The book has already won a number of awards and as you follow Selena Marcil, the star of a hit show, Dancing Under the Stars, you will be drawn into her life and quest for love. Chick lit, yes, but a good read too.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gFMrfyM8w8s/UmgSH0A5TRI/AAAAAAAAMXM/wcWg8fo4KZQ/s1600/Cover+-+Caught+in+the+Current.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gFMrfyM8w8s/UmgSH0A5TRI/AAAAAAAAMXM/wcWg8fo4KZQ/s200/Cover+-+Caught+in+the+Current.png" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For a change of pace, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Caught in the Current</b> by Daniel Hryhorezuk ($15.95, Langdon Street Press) that takes the ready back to the summer of 1970 in the Soviet controlled Ukraine. A first generation Ukrainian-American is on a break from his college studies, having organized a European tour with a group of friends. Unbeknownst to the group, Alec has agreed to gather information for the Ukrainian Youth Organization that seeks to undermine Soviet rule. This is a coming of age novel like no other because we are now grown distant from what life was like in the Soviet Union, a complete dictatorship. The novel is semi-autobiographical and well worth reading for its insights and drama. A foreign nation is the backdrop for another novel is the Philippines in Gina Apostol’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gun Dealer’s Daughter </b>($14.95, W.W. Norton). It is her third novel and her U.S. debut with a lush, dizzying depiction of wealth, corruption, and rebellion in the 1970s. As she idles away the years in a decrepit mansion overlooking the Hudson River, Solidad Soliman is the narrator as she obsessively relives a brief, but traumatic episode from her adolescences. She was born into privilege in the Marcos-era Philippines, but never questioned the true source of her family’s wealh until she enrolls in university in Manila. There she joins a rebellious Maoist student group and becomes infatuated with Jed, a fellow rich kid. Solidad must come to terms with the fact that her father is an arms dealer whose weapons prop up the nation’s tyrannical regime. The novel captures the issues, the pretenses of all involved, and the turbulent time in which it is set. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for November! Come back in December and start making your gift list of special books for special family and friends. Meanwhile, tell others who love to read about Bookviews. </span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-87755579794642289142013-09-29T07:18:00.002-07:002013-10-01T06:03:06.429-07:00Bookviews - October 2013<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MfIs9sLhg7M/Ukg1GQzmHlI/AAAAAAAAMH0/0iKl1aa3F3k/s1600/Cover+-+Unprecedented.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MfIs9sLhg7M/Ukg1GQzmHlI/AAAAAAAAMH0/0iKl1aa3F3k/s200/Cover+-+Unprecedented.gif" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For policy wonks like myself, a number of new books will provide a variety of insights. In 2012, the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>U.S. Supreme Court became the center of the political world when, in a decision that astonished constitutional scholars or ordinary citizens, it voted 5-to-4 to save the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare. The story of how the case reached the Court is told by Josh Blackman in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unprecedented: The Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare </b>($27.99, Public Affairs) and, given its impact, affecting individuals, physicians, the increase in the size of the government to administer and enforce it, and the economy, it will be one of those decisions that has far-reaching effects on life in America. The fight to overturn Obamacare became a legal firestorm, but the best way to understand it was the broadening of the already-stretched-to-the-limits Commerce Clause. The ruling said in effect that the government had the right to require people to purchase health insurance even if they did not want to and the right to fine them if they did not. This is unprecedented. Ultimately, the Chief Justice cast the deciding vote on the grounds that Obamacare was a tax and the constitution assigns that right to the government. The law goes into full effect this month and has already been unilaterally altered by the Obama administration and is replete with waivers for various favored constituencies. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In the Balance: Law and Politics in the Roberts Court </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Mark Tushnet ($28.95, W.W. Norton) will likely appeal to lawyers and those with an interest in the way shapes public policy. Most certainly, Chief Justice Roberts’ vote that permitted Obamacare—the Affordable Care Act—to proceed on the basis of its being a tax will be of greatest interest to readers. The author is a professor at the Harvard Law School and a prominent scholar on constitutional law, so those concerned about the role the Court plays will find much of interest as he and others try to determine the outcome of future votes and the thinking behind previous ones. He reviews cases involving First Amendment, gun control, abortion rights, business regulations and other issues, concluding that law and politics exist side by side on the Court.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wzjNbZC2tfM/Ukg1SUWO69I/AAAAAAAAMH8/SBqIMlCxrAM/s1600/Cover+-+front+porch+politics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wzjNbZC2tfM/Ukg1SUWO69I/AAAAAAAAMH8/SBqIMlCxrAM/s200/Cover+-+front+porch+politics.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Two new books take a look back over the politics and issues that have shaped and changed life in America since the 1960s. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Front Porch Politics: The Forgotten Heyday of American Activism in the 1970s and 1980s </b>by Michael Stewart Foley ($30.00, Hill and Wang) recounts the history of campaigns both famous and forgotten, from the steelworker’s fights against factory shut-downs to farmer’s struggles to save their farms and communities, along with other examples of community activists and neighborhood groups demanding toxic waste clean-ups. The better known battles of the time included gay rights, and helping the homeless. He concludes that Americans were more inclined to get directly involved in issues that affected them while today they seem to have lost their belief in direct political action. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">All in the Family: The Realignment of American Democracy Since the 1960s </b>by Robert O. Self ($17.00, Hill and Wang) examines the way the changes affecting marriage and the nuclear family affected the politics of the last five decades as more single-parent families occurred, as programs such as Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty actually worsened the situation, particularly for African Americans, than anticipated, and as issues such as same-sex marriage emerged. The changing role of the white heterosexual male as the breadwinner was significantly changed and the issues of “traditional values” regarding the family came under attack. It is a very different society from that which existed following the end of World War Two and this book explains the how and why of that change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A massive campaign to demonize people who enjoy lighting up a cigarette, a cigar or a pipe has led to bans on smoking just about everywhere, including in some places, in one’s own home if children live there. Michael McFadden has written </span><a href="http://tobakkonacht.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: #378add;">“TobakkoNacht</span></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">: The Antismoking Endgame.” (Aethna Press, $27.95, softcover) The title is a play on Kristallnach, a 1938 event in Nazi Germany that revealed the depths of that regime’s hatred of Jews, leading eventually to the Holocaust. Smokers are not being rounded up and killed, but they are subjected to bans and meritless increases in the cost of smoking; taxes that greatly benefit the states imposing them while using the power of taxation to denigrate smokers. McFadden’s research is extensive and in depth when it comes to exposing the many myths about smoking and his expert knowledge of statistics debunks how they are cited to further efforts directed against smokers. To learn about the scope of the effort to ban smoking, this book will provide the answers and I highly recommend it.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kSAXh6UDxr4/Ukg1dIxequI/AAAAAAAAMIE/7UTSzF89Nmg/s1600/Cover+-+Edison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kSAXh6UDxr4/Ukg1dIxequI/AAAAAAAAMIE/7UTSzF89Nmg/s200/Cover+-+Edison.jpg" width="188" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A few miles from where I live is West Orange where Thomas Edison lived and had his laboratories after his early years in Menlo Park. We now take for granted those early and many inventions, the incandescent light bulb, movies, phonograph machines, even Portland cement.. Edison was the first business celebrity, along with Ford and Firestone, and it is fitting that another innovator, Bill Gates, would have written the foreword to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Edison and the Rise of Innovation</b> ($29.95, Sterling Publishing). It is a really wonderful book about the prolific inventor and the way he combined scientific knowledge, well-equipped laboratories, talented collaborators, investment capital, and a real talent for showmanship in ways that transformed how new technologies were funded and created as the last century dawned. Leonard DeGraaf, the archivist for the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, was the ideal man to write this book that, in a large format, is filled with Edison’s examples of his personal and business correspondence, lab notebooks, drawings, all lavishly illustrated to bring his life, his success and his era to life in a way that anyone who loves history will thoroughly enjoy. Thinking ahead to Christmas, this book would make a great gift for anyone with an interest in history, technology, and innovation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There is endless discussion and debate about the educational system in America and everyone agrees that kids in the inner cities are often cheated of the benefits of those in wealthier suburban area. Ilana Garon has done them a big favor with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Why Do Only White People Get Abducted by Aliens?: Teaching Lessons from the Bronx </b>($24.95, Skyhorse Publishing) as she tosses out political correctness and the popular image of the “teacher-hero” and reveals the true stories, sometimes hilarious, often shocking, that she encountered as a new teacher navigating the public school system. From gang violence to teen pregnancy, to classrooms infested with mice, Garon say it all. In the process, her wily students made her realize how little she knew about teaching, about poverty, and about life in urban America. In the process she provides the reader with some real insight to what is occurring (or not) in classrooms where securing an education must cope with many other challenges.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Topic is Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One need only listen to radio or watch television to realize how health-conscious Americans are. They are obsessed with the topic. It is no surprise, therefore that there are also a regular flow of books on various health-related topics. Here are some of the latest.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Every parent wants their baby to grow up healthy and happy. Ruth Yaron has updated and revised <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Super Baby Food</b> ($19.99, F.J. Roberts Publishing, softcover) topping out at just over 650 pages! When her twin boys were born prematurely and very sick, she applied herself to learning everything about how to prepare natural, healthy foods for them. While she knew how to program satellites for NASA, she was an inexperienced cook, but she put her research and mathematical skills to work as she studied all aspects of homemade, mostly organic, whole grain cereals, fruits, and home-cooked vegetables, along with the best storing and freezing methods. Within this remarkable compendium of information on the subject is a whole world of healthy foods for newborns and infants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Making Peace with Your Plate: Eating Disorder Recovery </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Robyn Cruse and Espra Andrus, LCSW ($16.95, Central Recovery Press, softcover) addresses anorexia, an eating disorder that has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Then there is binge eating and bulimia as well that can bring misery and death. Ms. Andrus is a clinical therapist who specializes in working with people suffering a range of eating disorders. Ms. Cruze recovered from an eating disorder that had crippled her spirit for more than a decade. She is a freelance writer and, together, they have produced a book that will be of enormous help to anyone struggling to overcome an eating disorder with its unique three-phase approach to eating that provides a concrete plan for long-term recovery. If this describes someone you know, I would recommend you give them this book. Also from the same publisher is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Love in the Land of Dementia: Finding Hope in the Caregiver’s Journey </b>by Deborah Shouse ($15.95, CRP, softcover. This book provides compelling evidence that love is the greatest healing force on earth and the author tells of how Alzheimer’s disease began to claim her mother, it threatened the fabric of her parent’s long and loving marriage, and strained relationships with family and friends. However, over time when even memory and identity were all but gone, they found ways to make their peace with her disease. For anyone facing a comparable experience, this book will be a blessing. Both of these books has an official publication date in November.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hWhjTbJxNkc/Ukg1qTgp6yI/AAAAAAAAMIM/tgRCVPAUxns/s1600/Cover+-+Forging+healthy+Connections.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hWhjTbJxNkc/Ukg1qTgp6yI/AAAAAAAAMIM/tgRCVPAUxns/s200/Cover+-+Forging+healthy+Connections.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A problem that is all too common is establishing and maintaining relationships and, in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Forging Healthy Connections: How Relationships Fight Illness, Aging and Depression </b>($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) Trevor Crow and Maryann Karinch join forces to explore strategies that anyone can implement in order to create and maintain a healthy network of connections that provide an emotional safe haven in our professional and personal lives. They examine why so many of us fail or lose relationships as we age, explore trust issues, and other causes of a loss that has a direct effect on our health and mental well-being. Ms. Crow is a licensed marriage and family therapist and Ms. Karinch is the author of 18 books, many of which focus on human behavior. Together they make a great team and this book can help anyone, older readers and those who will be older, resolve some of the problems they may be encountering. A useful book is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">9 Realities of Caring for an Elderly Parent: A Love Story of a Different Kind</b>by Stefania Shaffer (19.95, Pressman Books, softcover) is written for the 43.5 million American adults who provide care for someone—their spouses, friends, and most of all, their parents. This guidebook will provide a treasure of useful advice, but perhaps the most important is for the caregiver to attend to their own health because it does take a toll if you do not. And it can be costly, too. If you are a caregiver or know one, this book is filled with the kind of information and advice that is invaluable.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Healing Pain and Injury</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> by Maud Nerman ($24.95, Bay Tree Publishing, softcover), an assistant professor at the Western University College of Osteopathic Medicine and an adjunct clinical professor at Tuoro University Medical Center, brings over thirty years of experience to the subject of recovery from all manner of neurological problems from brain injury to epilepsy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The book’s focus is treating pain and injury resulting from trauma. The author offers three simple steps to understanding and treating the hidden and little recognized causes of traumatic pain. If you continue to experience pain despite treatment, this book may unlock the doors to relief.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Biographies, Autobiographies &amp; Memoirs<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oR0rdHWVZuo/Ukg1zK0BVmI/AAAAAAAAMIU/ClUztfmXnD0/s1600/Cover+-+Young+Mr.+Roosevelt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oR0rdHWVZuo/Ukg1zK0BVmI/AAAAAAAAMIU/ClUztfmXnD0/s200/Cover+-+Young+Mr.+Roosevelt.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">You could fill a library with books about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only man to win four elections to the presidency, a man who led the nation through World War II, and a master politician. It is the younger Roosevelt who is often overlooked and Stanley Weintraub fills that gap with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Young Mr. Roosevelt: FDR’s Introduction to War, Politics, and Life </b>($25.99, Da Capo Press). <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp; </span>Anyone interested in American history and, in particular, the portion that FDR dominated, will welcome the way FDR’s formative years prepared him. Remembered for his successes, his early life taught him how to deal with failure and, of course, the Polio that left him crippled. During his presidency, few Americans ever saw a photo of him in a wheelchair. To stand, he required heavy metal braces. By the spring of 1913, however, he began his political career with an appointment as the assistant secretary of the Navy. That would be followed by a failed initial run for vice president, and, as noted, Polio. What the noted historian demonstrates is that Roosevelt not only learned from those trying times, but grew past them. It is a remarkable journey. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I often wonder what kind of courage it must take to be a war correspondent and, to a great extent, Paul Conroy’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Last Assignment</b>, ($26.00, Weinstein Books) provides the answer. Ms. Colvin wanted to be where the war zone was, wanted to report on what was occurring, and she paid for that with her life in Syria in 2012 after both had been smuggled in by rebel forces. She died during a hellish artillery attack that also seriously wounded Conroy who was a former British soldier with fifteen years covering conflicts in Iraq, Congo, Kosovo, and Libya, prior to Syria. Both shared a compulsion to bear witness to events. Anyone who has spent any time in a war zone, in combat, or just wondering what it is like will thoroughly enjoy this book. One might say they shared a foxhole or two together and the story he tells is gripping and a great tribute to his friend, a great journalist. Wars, of course, generate all manner of books and World War II is still a rich source. </span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M6lifzkTZIM/Ukg1_e5SybI/AAAAAAAAMIc/N2iq1UShsc4/s1600/Cover+-+Shadow+Warriors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M6lifzkTZIM/Ukg1_e5SybI/AAAAAAAAMIc/N2iq1UShsc4/s200/Cover+-+Shadow+Warriors.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Military historian and retired U.S. Marine, Dick Camp, the author of a slew of books, has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shadow Warriors: The Untold Stories of American Special Operations During WWII </b>($30.00, Zenith Press) which, despite the nearly seven decades that have passed, still have the capacity to amaze. It is the story of the top-secret exploits of the brilliant, courageous, and previously unacknowledged heroes. Only in recent years have their exploits been declassified and Camp provides an action-packed narrative of units that composed the special forces, laying the groundwork for many of our present-day units such as the SEALS and others. Camp’s book addresses both the European and Pacific theaters which required elaborate spy networks, covert parachutists, amphibious raids, and, yes, even the occasional catastrophic mission failure. </div></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Joseph Wheelan goes further back in our history with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Terrible Swift Sword: The Life of General Philip H. Sheridan </b>($16.99, Da Capo Press, softcover), one of the great generals of the Civil War, part of a triumvirate that included Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman. He was the youngest of the three, but his fame came not only in winning battles, but for his skills as a strategist and his personal leadership in battle. It was Sheridan who applied the concept of “total war”, a scorched-earth approach that is credited with winning the war and one he had ruthlessly used in campaigns against the Plains Indians to bring them to reservations. Once there, he became one of their most high-profile protectors. This is a first-rate biography that would be enjoyed even by a son of the old confederacy for its attention to detail and portrait of a man of courage and honor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Italian courtier, author of “The Prince”, Niccolo Machiavelli, has had his last name immortalized as a synonym for the options and methods a ruler has in order to stay in power. As Joseph Merkulin, the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Machiavelli: A Renaissance Life </b>($21.95, Prometheus Books, softcover) reveals,the often vilified Machiavelli as both a diabolically clever, yet mild-mannered and conscientious civil servant. In 720 pages, his life was a true adventure, filled with violence, treachery, heroism, betrayal, sex, bad popes, noble outlaws, menacing Turks, and a cast of others who peopled an era famed for the power of the Medici family and shared with both Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. At one point he as imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately abandoned, but he remained the sworn enemy of tyranny and, to the surprise of many who will read this book, a champion of freedom and the republican form of government! Anyone who loves biography and history will most surely enjoy this book. Another man immersed in the politics of his era is the subject of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Upton Sinclair: California Socialist, Celebrity Intellectual </b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">($28.95, University of Nebraska Press). Lauren Coodley provides an opportunity to learn about a man famed in his time as the author of “The Jungle”, and an inveterate embracer of all manner of causes. He has largely vanished in terms of any legacy despite the fact that he wrote nearly eighty books and even won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In the first half of the last century, his writing and activism made him a household name who dedicated himself to helping people understand how society was run, by whom, and for whom. It was a time when socialism was on the rise in America and much of its agenda has been written into an entitlement society that exists today. His interest and support of feminism and a devotion to healthy living put him ahead of his time. He’s worth getting to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gj_hnCYRF5E/Ukg2S6QugNI/AAAAAAAAMIk/d78EyWgysyg/s1600/Cover+-+God's+Double+Agent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gj_hnCYRF5E/Ukg2S6QugNI/AAAAAAAAMIk/d78EyWgysyg/s200/Cover+-+God's+Double+Agent.jpg" width="129" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">God’s Double Agent </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Bob Fu with Nancy French ($19.95, Baker Books) may surprise you with the fact that tens of thousands of Christians live in China today, living double lives to avoid a government that relentlessly persecutes them. By day, Bob Fu was a teacher in a communist school and by night he was a preacher in an underground house church network. He tells of his conversion to Christianity, his arrest and imprisonment for starting an illegal house church, his harrowing escape along with his wife in 1997, and his life since in the United States as an advocate for those who want to enjoy the freedom to worship as they wish. This book is worth reading not just for the inspiring story of his life, but to remind ourselves of freedoms we take for granted. Richard Rodriguez has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography </b>($26.95, Viking) and the title refers to a friend who has since passed away who he met on the day her divorce was finalized. “As a homosexual man, at a time of growing public acceptance of homosexuality,” says Rodriguez, “I find myself thinking about my intimacy with heterosexual women, and my debt to them for my formation as regards both my spirituality and my sexuality.” His book is a Roman Catholic’s personal exploration of, not only Christian history, but of Judaism and Islam, and the roles each played that have brought them to the present times. There may not be a large audience for this book, but those that read it will find it challenging and entertaining at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A very different kind of autobiography is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Heist and High</b> by Anthony Curcio and Dane Batty ($15.95, Nish Publishing Company, Portland, OR, softcover). Curcio was an all-American high school football star, a kid with a short at being an all-star college wide receiver, and maybe even going onto the NFL, but an addiction to a prescription pain-killer drug led him to pull off a robbery of a Brink’s armored truck that netted him more than $400,000. He headed for Las Vegas where he was subsequently caught. It was a sensational crime at the time and the detective who caught him said the robbery had “all the preparation of a top-notch heist by an experienced criminal.” This is a cautionary tale because it is estimated that more than eleven million people abuse these drugs. Curcio is rebuilding his life after serving his federal prison sentence in Texas and Florida, having been released in April of this year. His co-author has assisted in telling a fast-paced, very moving story. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Books for Younger Readers<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A very cute book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Summer Saltz: I’m So Hollywood, </b>by Connie Sewell and illustrated by Elyse Wittaker-Peak ($16.95, Tiny Hands Publishing, Hilton Head, SC) has a lesson for young readers, ages 3 to 8, about just being oneself and not taking on airs. When fun-loving Summer gets a pair of an ever-so-sassy pair of white sunglasses, she takes on the personality of “I’m so Hollywood” and plans a party to show off a bit. When her best friend shows up wearing the same glasses and the fun begins as she learns that it is not what one wears, nor adopting the attitudes of movie stars. Young readers (and those being read to) will learn a valuable lesson along with Summer and thoroughly enjoy it. For those youngsters who love wordplay there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sir Silly: The World Where Words Play </b>by David Dayan Fisher ($6.95, Sunnyfields Publishing) where Sir Silly thinks in rhyme and lets his imagine dance freely. Illustrations by Patricia Krebs enhance the text and the book is sure to impart some lessons in the way language, plus imagination, can open the mind to useful lessons in the way the world works.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a9_DkuC_gj4/Ukg2bGQdUaI/AAAAAAAAMIs/4LrNK9YUAk4/s1600/Cover+-+Mermaid+Sails+the+Bay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a9_DkuC_gj4/Ukg2bGQdUaI/AAAAAAAAMIs/4LrNK9YUAk4/s200/Cover+-+Mermaid+Sails+the+Bay.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Mermaid Sails the Bay </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">marks the debut of Greg Trybull ($16.66, Amazon.com, softcover) will particularly please young adults. It is springtime in 1908 in a San Francisco still recovering from the Great Quake of 1906. It is a time of advances that include electricity, automobiles, and radio, but is also a time when the era of the great sailing ships will give way to more modern vessels. Three brothers, Ed (16), Bill (14) and Ted (12) are about to embark on an adventure when their father buys them a 16-foot Whitehall boat which they christen the Mermaid. That summer they encounter Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet and end up the target of pirates that shoot rotten fruit for cannonballs. They surmount the rough seas, save the lives of new friends, and learn to get along with one another. This is a great way to enjoy history and indulge young dreams of adventure. Another kind of adventure is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mickey Price: Journey to Oblivion</b> by John P. Stanley ($15.99, Tanglewood) a science fiction romp that even NASA astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, liked. He said, “This rocket-speed adventure captures all the danger, mystery, and excitement of NASA moon missions with laugh-out-loud moments along the way. It also reminds us that there are still great mysteries on the moon and beyond, just waiting to be discovered and explored. I know kids will love this story and I hope it inspires them. Go outside at night—look at the moon—dream big!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Written for those ages 8 to 12, even a slightly older reader like myself, like Aldrin, thought this book was terrific. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another novel that will appeal to younger readers, as well as older ones, is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fifteen Minutes</b> by Karen Kingbury ($22.99, Howard Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster) that examines the price of fame as it raises questions about compromise, character, and cost in a celebrity-focused culture. Kingsbury has been called “the queen of Christian fiction” and draws on her friends among the music industry elite where she lives in Nashville. When the former winner of a TV talent show takes her turn as a judge, she has a secret motive to save others from the perils of fame. The focus of her concern becomes Zack Dylan, the most popular contestant, who has kept his strong faith as well as a girlfriend back home secret. Will the glare of fame cause him to lose everything he holds most dear? It is a question worth asking and answering. Teens will likely enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Crypto-Punk </b>self-published by George Traikovich ($9.00, Kindle 99 cents, Amazon, softcover) about the latest fad at Bixby Elementary, dressing like B-movie monsters. What is driving the strange compulsion? That is what the Zero Avenue kids, Drew, Clementine, Grady, Newton, and Spider, as they unravel the threads of a conspiracy that blurs the line between science and magic, friends and enemies, and which draws them into an adventure that tests their character and their loyalties to one another. This one is scary and lots of fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I say it every month, but it is no less true that there is a torrent of novels being published, either by mainstream publishing houses or, increasingly, self-published. No need complain for a lack of fiction these days. My fiction team is recommending a bunch this month.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4IwoO3deHBk/Ukg2mxLR2CI/AAAAAAAAMI0/_fOJPxW_pQA/s1600/Cover+-+The+Octavian+Latticework.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4IwoO3deHBk/Ukg2mxLR2CI/AAAAAAAAMI0/_fOJPxW_pQA/s200/Cover+-+The+Octavian+Latticework.jpg" width="138" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One new novel feels like it comes right out of the daily headlines even though it is set ten years into the future. Jack Belmonte makes his debut with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Octavian Latticework</b> ($22.00, Voltaire Publishing) in which a rookie counter-terrorism agent for the fictional U.S. Anti-Subversion Authority is hot on the heels of Brigade 910, a domestic terror group that is led by the shadowy Octavian. Johnny Luca and his partner discover plans for a major attack. In the White House, President Reed Wilkins has vowed to veto a draconian Total Information Awareness Act that would turn the U.S. into a total surveillance state. It’s up to Luca to save the president from assassination and to thwart the plots. Well, suffice to say, it is a story filled with political secrets, government cover-ups, and domestic terror plots. Another novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The North Building</b> ($15.50, Munroe Hill Press, softcover) takes one back to the days of the Cold War. Jefferson Flanders, the author, obviously finds this an interesting period of history as he set a previous novel in it as well. This is a sequel to “Herald Square.” Whether you know anything about the Cold War or not, you too will find it of interest as Flanders takes us back to the years just after World War II when the Soviet Union became the greatest challenge to the U.S. and Europe, a threatening presence in the world. Set in New York in 1951, Dennis Collins is returning from covering the war in Korea. The last thing he wants is to be sucked into a world of spies, counterspies, and the leaked military secrets that may have contributed to the retreat to the Chosin Reservoir, a low point in the conflict. The novel has some familiar names from that era that include President Eisenhower, Allen Dulles of the CIA, and the British spy ring led by Philby and MacLean. The North Building of the title is the office on the CIA campus where agents out of favor with their higher-ups get exiled to ponder their errors. This is a taunt and heart-racing geopolitical thriller that includes a nicely interwoven romance as well. A Washington Times reviewer loved it; I did too, and so will you. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IynZtCqKXqg/Ukg2vb5bmkI/AAAAAAAAMI8/d_BvbSYMIP4/s1600/Cover+-+Rising+Sun,+Falling+Shadow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IynZtCqKXqg/Ukg2vb5bmkI/AAAAAAAAMI8/d_BvbSYMIP4/s200/Cover+-+Rising+Sun,+Falling+Shadow.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another excellent novel. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rising Sun, Falling Shadow </b>by Daniel Kalla ($27.99, Tor/Forge) occurs in 1943, during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, China, trapping droves of American and British citizens, along with thousands of “stateless” German Jewish refugees,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>behind enemy lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Despite the hostile environment, newlyweds Dr. Franz Adler and his wife, Sunny, adjust to life running Shanghai’s only hospital for the refugee Jews. Bowing to Nazi pressure, the Japanese force their Allied friends into internment camps and relocate the twenty thousand Jews into a one-square-kilometer “Shanghai Ghetto.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Heat, hunger, and tropical diseases are constant threats, but the ghetto demonstrates miraculous resistance, offering music, theatre, sports and Jewish culture despite the condition. This is a tale of espionage, survival, and the power of love and family. World War II generated another novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brave Hearts </b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Carolyn Hart ($13.95, Seventh Street Books, softcover) as it tells the story of Catherine Cavanaugh, caught in a loveless marriage with a British diplomat. It is wartime London and the Germans are bombing London. She meets an American war correspondent, Jack Maguire, and rediscovers hope and love again, but the war intervenes when she and her husband are unexpectedly transferred to the Philippines. Jack follows, but shortly after their arrival the Japanese attack and trapped civilians are forced into a harrowing adventure to escape them. Hart is a cofounder of Sisters in Crime and won many awards for her novels—more than fifty—so you know she knows how to tell a gripping story. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Murder has long been a staple of fiction and Jonas Winner gives it a new twist in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Beginning: Berlin Gothic </b>($14.95, Thomas &amp; Mercer, softcover). Long after the Iron Curtain has come down, Till Anschutz has been taken in by the Bentheims and, along with his new brother, 12-year-old Max, the boys explore the office where their cold, distant father, horror novelist, Xavier Betheim, writes his novels. They discover a secret door that leads to a dark hallway that connects to the city’s underground tunnels. They also discover gruesome photographs and films, leading them to conclude that Xavier has been leading a disturbing double life. Meanwhile, Berlin Police Inspector Konstantin Butz is working on the case of a mutilated corpse of a woman. It is the latest in a series of related murders. This novel is full of twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages. Another novelist, James Sheehan, knows a lot about the law. He practiced it for thirty years and has written three acclaimed legal thrillers. His latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Alligator Man </b>($23.00, Center Street, Hachette imprint).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Someone has killed Roy Johnson, the former CEO of Dynatron, famous for preying on smaller companies, stripping them of their assets and leaving their employee out in the cold. Lots of people have a motive for killing him. Pieces of his clothing have been found in alligator-infested waters. The assumption is murder and one of those on whom suspicion falls is Billy Fuller who lost everything, but is now a New York Times columnist. A former childhood friend, Kevin Wylie, a Miami attorney, learns of Billy’s problem and, though all the evidence points to his guilt, he believes Billy is innocent. I recommended Sheehan’s last novel, “A Lawyer’s Lawyer”, and I definitely recommend his new one.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Last Animal</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> by Abby Geni ($24.00, Counterpoint Press) is a treat for anyone who loves reading short stories. Geni is a graduate of the prestigious Iowa Writer’s Workshop and someone who observers expect to become a major name. She is off to a great start with this collection, ten remarkable stories unified around the theme of people who use the interface between humans and the natural world to cope with issues of love, loss, and family life. The stories are thoroughly researched, giving them an authenticity. This collection has already garnered many accolades and I will add my own to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for October! Come back next month and don’t forget to tell your friends, family and co-workers who love a good book about Bookviews.com. </span></b></div>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-65079626529887360732013-08-30T06:29:00.001-07:002013-09-04T11:51:24.616-07:00Bookviews - September 2013<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /></o:p></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month</span></b></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The one book you must read this month is Erick Stakelbeck’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Breakthrough: America’s Next Great Enemy </b>($27.95, Regnery Publishing Co.) because it will tell you what you need to know about the September 11<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> “Million Muslim March” in Washington, D.C. and why the Muslim Brotherhood haa been in the streets of Cairo trying to retake control of Egypt after having been banned for more than five decades there until the overthrow of the Mubarak regime. Secular Egyptians are fighting to avoid having to live under Sharia law, the 1,400 year old system of slavery that sanctions beheadings, stoning, and the oppression of women and all other religions. You will learn about its history and how widespread it is in America, using a variety of front groups, all devoted to destroying our nation along with, of course, Israel. Founded in 1928 by fanatical Muslims, it is in eighty nations and boasts over a hundred million followers. You will learn how the White House has opened its doors to some of its leaders, how top ranked national security officials favor Islam, and how mosques are being built throughout the nation in order to proselytize and create enclaves in our midst from which will come those who will use terrorism against us. Americans are being deceived by our own media, by those in our universities, and by those in our government. This book spells it out, documenting what has occurred and what will occur if Americans do not waken to this threat to the nation and the West.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ul7qjpRzYcQ/UiCjK3EbDJI/AAAAAAAAL3E/3RT22cJ1Ar8/s1600/Cover+-+What+Went+Wrong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ul7qjpRzYcQ/UiCjK3EbDJI/AAAAAAAAL3E/3RT22cJ1Ar8/s200/Cover+-+What+Went+Wrong.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The reelection of Barack Obama was a tremendous shock to Republicanswho could not conceive that a first term that began with enormous spending—the stimulus—that produced no shovel-ready or other permanent jobs or any improvement to the economy and ended with the Benghazi scandal in which a U.S. ambassador and three others will killed in a terrorist attack would not hand the election to Mitt Romney, their candidate. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What Went Wrong: The Inside Story of the GOP debacle of 2012 and How it can be Avoided Next Time </b>by Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D. ($25.95, WND Books) is a brilliant analysis of why the GOP again choose a “me too” candidate and, in Romney’s case, a man who utterly failed to wage an aggressive campaign. Corsi explains how the Democratic campaign relied on the most modern techniques of computer modeling to identify exactly who to reach, combined with a get-out-the-vote campaign that ensured that more of them actually voted. The GOP thought that Romney’s economic message of small government, lower taxes, and less regulation would resonate with voters, but it did not and, in the end, a significant number white Republicans, the party’s core, just stayed home, disappointed with the campaign. It cost them the White House, but Tea Party candidates, scorned by the GOP elites did well at the polls. Obama was reelected by his core constituency, African Americans who voted 98% for him, Hispanics, single women and younger voters. Republicans, Tea Party supporters, conservatives and independents should read this excellent book to learn what must be done in the forthcoming 2014 midterm elections and how to capture the White House and Congress in 2016. Corsi believes it can be done.</span></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JwJVQPJ_tYE/UiCfC_vQcCI/AAAAAAAAL18/pbPB72rJ_l8/s1600/Cover+-+Harry+Rosenfeld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JwJVQPJ_tYE/UiCfC_vQcCI/AAAAAAAAL18/pbPB72rJ_l8/s200/Cover+-+Harry+Rosenfeld.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Having begun my professional life as a very young journalist in the late 1960s, I found Harry Rosenfeld’s memoir, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From Kristallnacht to Watergate: Memoirs of a Newspaperman</b> ($29.95, Suny University of New York Press) of interest as he recalled his family’s escape from Nazi Germany to the U.S., his youth growing up in New York, and his love of journalism that began early with a low-level job with the Tribune. Rosenfeld made his way up to editorial positions with the Washington Post and played a pivotal role when the Watergate scandal began as a break-in of the Democratic headquarters. He recounts how Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, both young reporters, were selected to investigate and how it grew into the greatest scandal to affect a U.S. president ever. It would take two years before Nixon resigned in the face of a pending impeachment. It is history as seen through the eyes of a journalist that is a contribution to understanding much about newspapers in an era where they were the dominant provider of news to the present times. It is a personal story, but it is also a story of the most dramatic times America passed through since the end of WWII.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AQRDgMj8Oco/UiCjVh7iWxI/AAAAAAAAL3M/VFg_un_7drY/s1600/Cover+-+Breakthrough+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AQRDgMj8Oco/UiCjVh7iWxI/AAAAAAAAL3M/VFg_un_7drY/s200/Cover+-+Breakthrough+1.jpg" width="126" /></a></span></span></div><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A new breed of journalist has emerged in the digital age and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Breakthrough: Our Guerrilla War to Expose Fraud and Save Democracy </b>by James O’Keefe ($26.00, Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon and Schuster) is the extraordinary story of how this young man and colleagues exposed the corruption of ACORN, leading to Congress defunding the voter fraud organization, revealing the biases within National Public Radio, the easy tolerance of fraud at Planned Parenthood, and in many government agencies. In 2010 O’Keefe formed Project Veritas, a 501c(3) organization dedicated to citizen journalism. Best known for its sting operations that caught the various operatives of these organization on camera, O’Keefe is dedicated to exposing corruption that endangers the election process, the contempt of organizations that receive government funding, and many other ills within our society and government that undermine our values. He was fortunate to find a mentor in the late Andrew Breitbart, but the untold story until now is the way the Left fought back with law suits and outright lies intended to defame him and his group. What he accomplished was funded largely on his credit cards in the early years and his dedication got him through some very scary moments. If you have a feeling that something is very wrong with our nation’s institutions, you will find your fears confirmed in this excellent book that exudes his still youthful enthusiasm for “citizen journalism.”&nbsp;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Jay W. Richards undertakes to explain the elements that led to the 2008 financial crisis in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Infiltrated </b>($25.00, McGraw Hill Education). He is a philosopher with a special focus on politics and economics. The book is described as “part socioeconomic analysis and part examination of the continuing debate over who is to blame for the crisis and who is still trying to gain from it.” I found it tough going to the point where I finally gave up. About the only thing I know is that we live in an era of crony capitalism and the interplay between government and the financial markets is intricate and deep. Suffice to say, only those with a concerted interest in such questions will want to read this book and, I suspect, there are so many players involved that it defies much more than informed speculation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Am I a Jew?</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"> By Theodore Ross ($16.00, Plume, softcover) will intrigue both Jews and Christians as the author tells the story of how, when he was nine years old, his mother forced him to convert to Christianity after growing up in a Jewish family. When she moved to a small town in Mississippi, she wanted to pass and, one assumes, wanted to make life easier for Ross, but he always knew he was a Jew and those years never really altered that perception. His parents were divorced so he was a Christian in Mississippi and a Jew in Manhattan when he returned to visit his father for holidays and summer break. As an adult living in New Mexico he became aware of “crypto-Jews” of Spanish origin, those who fled the inquisition or pretended to convert to avoid death. As he began to pursue this slice of history he became aware of how many people believed they were Jewish though living gentile lives. A whole sub-culture of those seeking to “return” to their spiritual roots was revealed to him. Told with humor and a sharp eye for detail, Ross tells his own story and that of others seeking an answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Linked only by Judaism, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bombed in His Bed: The Confessions of Jewish Gangster Myer Rush</b> ($16.95, Alma Rose Publishing, softcover) is an as-told-to book by Bruce Farrell Rosen, his nephew. Rush was a very successful gangster who grew up in Depression-era Toronto, a man who would have been successful in any enterprise, accumulating wealth through crime and legitimate enterprise. He had a gift for stealth, and chutzpah, but he disdained the press and the way he was depicted. He was, as the saying goes, larger than life. He was in turn a cat burglar, ran guns into Palestine before it became Israel at the request of a rabbi, marketed a sex herb he discovered, and bought companies, turning them and other ventures into success stories. There is no way to briefly describe his life and we can thank his nephew for getting him to share his life for what is a very interesting biography. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Every so often a book comes along that I know will appeal to a narrow niche of readers and, in the case of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Land of Lincoln—Thy Wondrous Story: Through the Eyes of the Illinois State Society </b>($40.00, Jameson Books, Ottawa, IL) by Mark Q. Rhoads that is surely the case. It helps if you were born, bred and perhaps still live in Illinois. The author was the president of the Illinois State Society from 1989 to 1990, serving on its board for 27 years until 2012. Suffice to say he has had a long and distinguished career, all of which touches upon his beloved state in some fashion or other. His book is a definitive history of Illinois reaching back to 1853 and moving along to the present through the events and the lives of men who made their mark on the nation and the state. We all know about Lincoln, but the book is filled with the politics of Illinois that was filled with interesting people, some on the national stage, others in the state, some of whom helped share the history of the nation as well.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Visible Ink Press publishes a series of books that I recommend highly. They come under the common title of “The Handy” book of “Answers” and several are debuting this month. They include <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Chemistry Answer Book</b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Astronomy Book (Third Edition), </b>and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Art History Answer Book</b>, all priced at $21.95 and all authored by experts in their fields. Earlier editions in my personal library include answer books about history and science. In a very complex world, these books are a treasure of information that break down their topics into easily comprehended and informative texts that provide hours of interesting and entertaining reading while turning you into the smartest person in the room!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>To learn more about this series, visit </span><a href="http://www.handyanswers.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.handyanswers.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Silly, Funny, and Fun</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LEwIZDU3Cx8/UiCfMG1pNCI/AAAAAAAAL2E/MmD99bZbK-I/s1600/Cover+-+Dare+to+look.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LEwIZDU3Cx8/UiCfMG1pNCI/AAAAAAAAL2E/MmD99bZbK-I/s200/Cover+-+Dare+to+look.png" width="153" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Some books are just supposed to be fun to read and that surely applies to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ripley’s Believe It or Not ® Dare to Look!</b>, a coffee table, large format book ($28.95, Ripley Publishing) that is filled with some of the most bizarre, incredible, and amazing true stories from around the world. Moreover, by downloading an APP for “oddScan” you can scan some of the images and they come alive off the page. This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in the odd ways some people behave and the things they do. There’s the guy who pinned 161 clothes pegs to his face, an eight page gatefold of ventriloquist’s dummies, and much more fun stuff on every page. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those who enjoy exploring mysteries, conspiracies, and cover-ups, Nick Redfern’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monster Files</b> ($15.99, New Page Books, a division of Career Press, softcover) will more than satisfy with its “look inside government secrets and classified documents on bizarre creations and extraordinary animals.” Redfern has either uncovered some strange information from “secret files in the Pentagon, the Kremlin, the British military, and other government agencies” or he is putting on the reader. Either way, it is quite entertaining with its tales of lake monsters, an alleged link between the CIA and the Abominable snowman, and Russian experiments with animal ESP.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There is one type of book that I enjoy simply because it is so much fun. It is a collection of odd facts and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1,227 Quite Interesting Facts to Blow Your Socks Off</b> by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin and the QI Elves ($15.95, W.W. Norton) lives up to its title. Lloyd and Mitchinson are the creators of an award-winning BBC quiz show called “QI” and Harkin is a senior researcher. It is pure trivia, but it is arranged so that each page’s items link together in some fashion. Not that it matters because each page has some surprising fact such as the international dialing code for Russia is 007 or that heroin was originally sold as a cough medicine. Did you know that Google makes more money--$20 billion a year—from advertising than CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX combined? You will liven up your conversations with all manner of facts after you’ve read this very entertaining book.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By far the most amusing take on ghosts I have seen in a very long time is Doogie Horner’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">100 Ghosts: A Gallery of Harmless Haunts </b>($9.95, Quirk Books)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>just in time for Halloween next month. In fact it would make a great Halloween gift. Horner is a writer, designer, and stand-up comedian with two previous books to his credit. Suffice to say he has a very whimsical mind and the illustrations that compose the book show many variations on the theme of the white sheet and two eye-holes that is the comic book version of a ghost. He has found some very amusing ways of taking this simple piece of artwork and transforming it into a chuckle on every page of a book you can hold in the palm of your hand. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br />&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Lots of Useful Advice</span></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></b>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I think someone has been writing a book of advice since the invention of the printing press and, of course, the Bible, written much earlier, is filled with advice on how to live one’s life. A number of such books have arrived so let’s take a look at them.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nIuUsNYzOSo/UiCfYb6H0xI/AAAAAAAAL2M/NVj4tWFXEEk/s1600/Cover+-+A+MAn+in+the+Making.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nIuUsNYzOSo/UiCfYb6H0xI/AAAAAAAAL2M/NVj4tWFXEEk/s200/Cover+-+A+MAn+in+the+Making.jpg" width="129" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Raising a young man to turn out well is always a parent’s concern and Rick Johnson offers some advice in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Man in the Making: Strategies to Help Your Son Succeed in Life </b>($12.99, Revell, a division of Baker Publishing, softcover). Written from a Christian point of view, its advice is universal, however, citing the need for intentional guidance, education, and good role models. Johnson cites famous men of the past as models of manhood and the values they possessed. Shannon Perry has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Overlooked General: Parenting Teens and Tweens in a Complicated Culture </b>($14.99, softcover, </span><a href="http://www.shannonperry.com/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.ShannonPerry.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">). A radio and TV host, she formerly was a public school teachers and counselor, and certified instructor for crisis counseling and parenting classes. I cite this to let you know she has the knowledge and experience to address bullying and other difficult issues that include eating disorders, drug use, and other problems that today’s tweens and teen must address and avoid. Well researched and filled with good advice, I would recommend this book for any parent of a young girl and boy who wants to deal with these issues. For parents with a child who insists on having the last word there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Parenting Your Powerful Child </b>by Dr. Kevin Leman ($17.99, Revell). It is filled with practical advice on how to turn the battle zone in your home into a peaceful environment. Dealing with a child that insists on getting his or her way requires insights as to how they got that way and what steps can be taken to change attitudes and behaviors. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A short, clever book by David E. Silvey offers advice on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Smart Way to Deal with Stupid People: How Some Get What they Want and Other’s Don’t </b>($14.99, Smart Way Books, softcover) is not so much about “stupid” people but rather those in a position to be of service, but may fail to do so. It’s about navigating frustrating situations and people in a conflict-free way and, if you or someone you know, always seem to be in conflict with others, it would make a very gift or book to read. It is available on Amazon Kindle, Nook, and Lulu. In the world of business, the challenge is to hire the right person and Abhijit Bhaduri, who’s been a human resources executive at several large, global organizations such as Microsoft and PepsiCo, has written an interesting book on the subject titled <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t Hire the Best: An Essential Guide to Building the Right Team</b> ($14.95, Hogan Press, softcover) which may seem counter-intuitive, but the author contends that by selecting candidates with the right personality fit and competencies, rather than the most impressive experience or education, an organization can ensure that it brings in the right people who can work effectively and successfully together. The book is already getting raves from business leaders for its practical advice on how to improve the way they assess their candidates. We have all heard of the “glass ceiling” that kept women from climbing the corporate and career ladder. Norma Yaeger stepped into the male-dominated world of the stockbroker on Wall Street in 1962 and brings lots of perspective and experience to her book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Breaking Down the Walls</b> ($15.99/$9.99, Publish Green, softcover and ebook). This is her story and the advice she offers a new generation of young women entering the workplace with more choices than those who preceded them. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ufns9_7Q2is/UiJnQVCp31I/AAAAAAAAL5k/x-aPwFWH000/s1600/Cover+-+Shifting+Gears.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ufns9_7Q2is/UiJnQVCp31I/AAAAAAAAL5k/x-aPwFWH000/s200/Cover+-+Shifting+Gears.jpg" width="134" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">After a life spent working, the time comes for retirement though it must be said the current economy may make that more difficult than before. More than 10,000 adults turn 55+ every day and they are faced with questions about what to do with the prospect of several more decades of life. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shifting Gears to Your Life Work After Retirement</b> by Carolee Duckworth and Marie Langworthy ($18.50/$8.50, New Cabady Press, softcover and ebook) offer a roadmap for Boomers to live the final years and make them their best that covers a wide range of topics from a 10-point retirement countdown, a 5-step process to create a unique retirement adventure, how to use one’s time best, and how technology offers web connectivity and other benefits. The book offers advice on how to reinvent one’s personal and professional next phase along with some good parenting advice for one’s senior years. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Regrettably, some seniors fall victim to dementia. A 2009 census revealed that more than five million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia. That means there are fifteen million family caregivers and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">An Unintended Journey: A Caregiver’s Guide to Dementia</b> by Janet Yagoda Shgram ($20.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) was written to provide the kind of advice to get them through that challenge as she guides readers through the often-confusing world of dementia care. She explains the basics of dementia as a brain disorder, its accompanying behaviors, the procedures to diagnose and stage the disease, as well as the legal aspects of providing care for an adult who is no longer competent. There’s excellent advice and guidance on every page.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Science and Such</span></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></b>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Science has transformed modern life for the better and is so much in the news that it has become a kind of religion. It has been corrupted in recent decades, particularly in regard to the greatest hoax of modern times, “global warming.” It is producing a lot of books of late so let’s look at some that have arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">An important moment in the advancement of science and mathematics was the publication of Isaac Newton’s book in 1687. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Magnificent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Principia</i>: Exploring Isaac Newton’s Masterpiece </b>by Colin Pask ($26.00, Prometheus Books) is a guided tour of the book that created the framework for what we call modern science and why we now take matters from gravity to our solar system for granted. For anyone with an interest in the history of the book and its impact, Pask will take you on a journey that will put you in the company of intellectually curious readers, as well as the professional scientists and mathematicians who actually read it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Environmentalism has produced whole libraries of books and all seem to blame humans for everything that occurs in nature without crediting it with enormous powers well in excess of anything humans do. A typical example of this is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Invisible Nature: Healing the Destructive Divide Between People and the Environment </b>by Kenneth Worthy ($19.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) which sees all aspects of human life from food production to the use of toilet paper as some kind of assault on nature. I have a tip for you. Nature doesn’t care. Much of human history has been devoted to overcoming the dangers to human life that nature poses and we have developed everything from agriculture to feed us to cities to house us in order to avoid living in mud huts and eating nuts and berries. A similar doom and gloom look at nature is find in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Air: The Restless Shaper of the World </b>by William Bryant Logan ($16.95, W.W. Norton, softcover) which includes the usual claptrap about carbon dioxide that is released when we burn coal or use oil to generate energy for the power we require to turn on the lights or drive our cars. Carbon dioxide plays no role in “global warming” or “climate change”; it is a bare 0.038% of the Earth’s atmosphere, but without it all animal life would perish as it is the “food” that all plant life needs for growth. We need to stop worrying about the so-called “greenhouse gases” and begin to consider the threats posed by assaults on the Constitution and the Islamist movement.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qhBPJPUqRyM/UiCdOMUGnbI/AAAAAAAAL1c/DAA3haVGb54/s1600/Cover+-+The+Particle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qhBPJPUqRyM/UiCdOMUGnbI/AAAAAAAAL1c/DAA3haVGb54/s200/Cover+-+The+Particle.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">On a more positive note, there are some books about science that are not blatant propaganda. One such is Edward Ashpole’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Signatures of Life: Science Searches the Universe </b>($25.00, Prometheus Books) that explores the question of whether we are alone in the universe or whether life is a universal phenomenon? There are countless galaxies, but the astronomers in SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have spent the last fifty years scanned the universe for any signals of other intelligent beings and have found none. The author examines the problems inherent is this effort, seeking radio or optical signals from an alien intelligence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Granted that this is a fairly specialized aspect of science today, this book does it justice. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Particle At the End of the Universe </b>by Sean Carroll ($17.00, Plume, softcover) tells the story of the biggest machine ever constructed, taking ten years to build, and costing in excess of $9 billion. It required the cooperation of engineers from more than a hundred nations and, in the end, its colossal discovery was the unbelievably tiny Higgs Boson, often referred to as the “god particle.” Don’t ask me to explain what it is other than that it is a subatomic particle, deemed the most important scientific discovery to date. The story behind the construction of the project is a great drama, the result of unprecedented international cooperation and all manner of deal-making and even occasional skullduggery. As such, it makes for lively reading.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As someone who cannot balance his checkbook without the assistance of my bank’s online page, anything to do with physics and mathematics is a mystery to me, but there are a number of books that do a good job of explaining it. One such is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Quantum Universe (And Why Anything that</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Can Happen, does) </b>by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw ($15.99, Da Capo Press, softcover). The authors are professors of physics at the University of Manchester and do an excellent job of demystifying quantum physics to the point where even I can understand it. They do so in a very entertaining way for those of us interested in why the laws of physics determine everything in our world and the universe. This one is worth reading. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Way of Science: Finding Truth and Meaning in a Scientific Worldview </b>by Dennis R. Tumble ($20, Prometheus Books, softcover) involves a lot of deep thinking about the deeper benefits of science, particularly its emphasis on critical thinking and science literacy. The reason we trust science is that it is subject to reproducibility. Unless a theory or a claim can be reproduced by other scientists, it is subject to dispute and those disputes are critical to arriving at a truth. I am not talking about “a consensus” or agreement, but a conclusion that has been proven to the point where it is accepted on its own merits. The best part of science is that it keeps us open to a sense of wonder about the world we inhabit and an optimism that the human condition can be improved. I took some comfort, given my lack of arithmetic skills, in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Magnificent Mistakes in Mathematics </b>by Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingar Lehmann ($24.00, Prometheus Books). This is a book that will appeal to those who work in the world of mathematics, but also to those with a general interest in the subject. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The Making of the Mind: The Neuroscience of Human Nature </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Ronald T. Kellogg ($20.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) explores in detail five distinctive parts of human cognition. In more basic terms, why did we humans turn out so different from chimpanzees with whom we share a fair amount of DNA? According to the author, we have very good working memories, a well-tuned social intelligence that lets us interpret what others are saying, a capacity for symbolic thought and language, and an inner voice that interprets conscious experiences by making causal inferences. Unlike the chimps, we know our species has a history, a past, and that it has a future. Kellogg is concerned that our modern world of 24/7 media leads to a great deal of mass distraction. This is one of those kind of books that provides a world of insight to our own lives and that of society in general.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GR8ZwkZRMTU/UiCdormepBI/AAAAAAAAL1g/NtkpBHFi0hI/s1600/Cover+-+Sports+Gene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GR8ZwkZRMTU/UiCdormepBI/AAAAAAAAL1g/NtkpBHFi0hI/s200/Cover+-+Sports+Gene.jpg" width="137" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What Makes a Hero: The Surprising Science of Selflessness </b>by Elizabeth Svoboda ($27.95, Current, an imprint of Penguin Group USA) is an interesting look the way people will act selflessly and why. Using a variety of examples of people who demonstrated this quality, the author shows how this can greatly improve our mental health in our daily lives though it sometimes comes with a price. Interestingly, breakthroughs in biology and neuroscience reveal that the human brain is primed for selflessness which, to be candid, came as a surprise to me which is, of course, why the title of the book is about this “surprising science.” It turns out that we all have the capacity to be heroes in our own ways. Another book from Current is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance </b>by David Epstein ($26.95) that offers an interesting look at sports that raises some interesting questions. For example, half the men who hold the top ten records for the 100m dash are from Jamaica, Two of them, Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, hail from neighboring parishes. Is there something in the water or is it in the gene pool? This book looks at sensitive subjects such as what role race and gender play in athletics? And why do bodies respond differently to identical training? Everyone can recall the star athlete from their school days, the one who made it look easy and the question the book explores is why some have the “sports gene” while others clearly do not. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sports Illustrated </i>senior writer, Epstein, tackles the nature versus nurture debate and examines what science has to tell us. Along the way he dispels many of our perceptions about why top athletes excel. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">You have no doubt noticed that several of the books noted in this section are from a single publisher, <a href="http://prometheusbooks.com/">Prometheus Books</a>, and the good news is that several are available as ebooks at significantly lower prices than the traditional format</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Kid Stuff</span></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></b>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I am a great believer in getting kids to love books at an early age. For the very young, being read to from a book, particularly a picture book, engages them and encourages them to learn to read on their own. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I am a fan of the Howard B. Wigglebottom series by Howard Binkow and the latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Fable About Trust </b>($15.00, We Do Listen Foundation) by Binkow and Rev. Ana, and illustrated by Taillefer Long. The book introduces 4-8 year olds to the concept that trust is earned and that it is okay to say no. Filled with appealing and recognizable characters, it teaches a valuable lesson in selecting one’s friends and avoiding doing things because others urge one to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>You can learn more about the series as </span><a href="http://www.wedolisten.org/"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue;">www.wedolisten.org</span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bimbambu </b>by Ileana Katzenelson ($18.73, Soul Prints Press) is for the pre-school youngster age 3 to 5 or so. It was inspired by a story told to her by her father, a concentration camp survivor, and explores the theme of being compassionate and giving. The main character is a bird who, asked to share its feathers by a variety of other animal characters does so and who receives their help in return. Illustrated by Sean Brown, it is a story the very young will want to return to again and again. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A very clever, entertaining picture book for the very young is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vampire Baby </b>by Kelly Bennett and illustrated by Paul Meisel ($15.99, Candlewick Press) takes a common experience when infants get their first teeth and want to test them out on everything. For older siblings this can be a painful experience. In this story, a baby develops fangs! She may be a vampire, but she is still is much loved little sister. It is, of course, a metaphor for the transition that occurs when a new child joins the family. American Girl is more than just a publisher. The company introduces new characters and, in the case of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bitty Baby</b>, creates dolls, outfits, and accessories. Aimed at girls who are 3 years old and up, the first of a series is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bitty Baby and Me</b> by Kirby Larson and illustrated by Sue Cornelison ($14.99) along with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bitty Baby at the Ballet</b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bitty Baby Love the Snow</b>, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bitty Baby the Brave</b>. All involve learning experiences of one kind or another and, from a parent’s point of view, will prove helpful. Little girls will just enjoy them.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5GLbFOY53Ss/UiCfmSMppLI/AAAAAAAAL2U/yiA59uVtk-8/s1600/Cover+-+Dragon+Boy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5GLbFOY53Ss/UiCfmSMppLI/AAAAAAAAL2U/yiA59uVtk-8/s200/Cover+-+Dragon+Boy.gif" width="134" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Dragon Boy and the Witches of Galza </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">($15.95, Xlibris, softcover) is a debut novel in a planned series by A.A. Bukhatir and it will appear to younger readers age 12 and up with its story of an old woodcutter named Aijou who mourns the death of his cherished wife, living in near total isolation. His life takes a dramatic change when, having lost his way in an enchanted forest, he encounters two tiny fairies engaged in a battle with a fire-breathing she-dragon. They prevail and as she lays dying she assumes her human form and begs Aijou to adopt her baby boy. He agrees, not know that the infant is actually a dragon. This is an intricate story filled with all the elements of fantasy and mystery that will intrigue younger readers. A non-scary story along the lines of Alice in Wonderland has been penned by Mark J. Grant. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lila: The Sign of the Elven Queen </b>($14.95, Mascot Books) is a modern fairy tale about s six-year-old girl who lives in New York. She has two cats, but dogs are not allowed in her apartment building, so she asks her parents if she can have an invisible dog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>They agree and as they go about buying invisible pet supplies for “Fluffy” when a black and white Aussie appears to Lila and introduces himself as Fluffy. All manner of adventures follow, including invisible people who discover a birthmark on Lila that is the sign of their Elven Queen. When she turns seven, she is made a princess. This is an instant modern fairy tale and one that is sure to please ages eight and older.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The best thing about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Green Golly &amp; her Golden Flute </b>($19.99, Eifrig Publishing) is the CD of music performed by Keith Torgan and Barbara Siesel, the authors of this book for those ages 4-10 that comes with it. Suzanne Langelier-Lebeda illustrated it, but even her artwork cannot rescue the story that is based on the tale of Rapunzel whose long hair helped her escape from the tower in which she had been put. Whether read to at bedtime or read by the child, the story that begins with the baby Golly’s parents giving her away to a witch for a bowl of salad is so inherently terrifying that everything that follows defies the understanding of the world by even the youngest reader. The intent was to spark an interest in classical music, but the result is a poorly conceived, poorly written story with negative themes throughout. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">While I receive many books each month, the vast bulk of them continue to be novels and there is apparently no end to the hunger for a good story.</span></span><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dvI-sYGxalo/UiCfxij8keI/AAAAAAAAL2c/fYdcez0GpWo/s1600/Cover+-+Clever+Fox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dvI-sYGxalo/UiCfxij8keI/AAAAAAAAL2c/fYdcez0GpWo/s200/Cover+-+Clever+Fox.jpg" width="136" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Judge Jeanine Pirro has made a name for herself as the host of a Fox News show. I don’t know where she finds the time to write novels, but she is also gaining recognition for her “Dani Fox” series based on a smart and sexy female assistant DA in Westchester County. Her second novel, as the first, draws heavily on her own experience in the field of law. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clever Fox</b> ($19.99, Hyperion) Dani has won a big case, but lost her true love, and now she must take on the case of a gruesome murder of a young woman with family ties to the New Jersey mafia. This pits her against a powerful New York crime boss, the press, and her boss. Fortunately she has an experienced detective on her side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Not only is she a good story teller, but Pirro has an ear for the way those in law enforcement talk to one another and deal with the pressures involved. She also knows what it is like to have been young and inexperienced in a male dominated environment. This novel works on many levels. Crime and the suspense that goes with it have established John Rector as a leading novelist and bestselling author. His fans will welcome his return with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Out of the Black </b>($14.95, Thomas &amp; Mercer, softcover) in which Matt Caine, a Marine who has completed a harrowing tour of duty in Afghanistan is trying to put his life together after the death of his wife and the responsibility for his young daughter Anna. He is, however, jobless, broke, and in debt to a notorious loan shark. When a drug addict from his pre-Marine days slithers back into his life and offers him a job driving a van for a supposedly foolproof and profitable kidnapping job, Caine realizes too late that the target is the wife of a powerful crime boss. The tension just mounts from there and you will find yourself reading with rapt attention to see how events play out. When you hear the name John Gilstrap you know you’re in for a high suspense reading experience. He’s back in a paperback, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">High Treason</b>, ($9.99, Kensington Publishing) featuring freelance hostage rescue specialist Jonathan Grave in a fifth installment of Gilstrap’s series. The First Lady has been kidnapped and the FBI director knows that Grave is a man who always gets results, no matter what, and this is a mission that must be carried out with utmost secrecy. In tracking his way through a labyrinth of lies and murder, Graves discovers a traitor at the highest level of Washington power who is about to commit the ultimate act of terror. It’s great reading at the beach or patio as summer comes to an end. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGwjxeRBCKc/UieA_jdsTlI/AAAAAAAAL6k/vh0u4nhVfaM/s1600/The_Childhood_of_Jesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGwjxeRBCKc/UieA_jdsTlI/AAAAAAAAL6k/vh0u4nhVfaM/s200/The_Childhood_of_Jesus.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Another writer of renown is J.M. Coetzee, the author of 21 books that have been translated into many languages. He has twice been awarded the prestigious Booker Prize and in 2003 won the Nobel Prize in Literature. A native of South Africa, he now lives in Adelaide, Australia, and his latest book is curiously titled <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Childhood of Jesus </b>($26.95, Viking) even though it is not about Jesus, but rather about a small boy who arrives by boat in a new country after having been separated from his parents and the piece of paper that would explain everything. During the trip, a man has taken it upon himself to look after him and upon arrival they are assigned new names, new birthdates, and essentially new lives. They know little Spanish, the language of the land in which they find themselves. The renamed Simon and David make their way to a relocation center and Simon finds a job on a grain wharf where he warms to his co-workers. He knows, however, he must locate David’s mother. While walking in the countryside with David he catches sight of a woman he is certain is the person for whom he is looking and persuades her to assume the role. There are many levels to this story of renewal against great odds and it is testimony to why Coetzee is regarded as one of the great authors of our time.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Ralph “Gaby” Wilson has beaten the odds of writing and selling screenplays many times, having sold 45 of them and now he has tried his hand as a novelist with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Illegal Woman: A Gypsy Love Story </b>($19.99, Xlibris, softcover), about a young writer from Kansas who meets a gypsy woman in 1965 France. It is an unusual encounter as K.P. Kelly finds himself marooned in Europe without any money and alone. His only hope is to hitchhike to Paris where he there may be some checks from his publisher at an American Express office. He is 600 miles away when he catches the eye of an alluring Gypsy woman, Kalina, who teaches him how to travel by his wits. For a while he lives with her family and learns the Gypsy culture and together they travel across France in a spicy romp. This book is a lot of fun to read. Vermont could not be a more different locale, but it is the setting for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You Knew Me When </b>by Emily Liebert ($15.00, New American Library, softcover). Katherine Hill left her small New England hometown in pursuit of a dream and now, twelve years later, she is a high-powered cosmetics executive in Manhattan, far removed from her former life. By contrast, her former friend, Laney Marten, did not get to live out her dreams, becoming a young wife and mother. When Katherine receives word of an inheritance from a former neighbor, she reluctantly returns home where she is met by Laney and, tethered together by their shared inheritance of a sprawling Victorian mansion, they must address their long-standing grudges and determine if their earlier friendship can be revived. This is a novel that women will find of interest. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Some novels do not neatly fit into a particular genre. Several that explore the human condition provide some intriguing reading. From Canada, the award-winning author Jane Urguhart has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sanctuary Line </b>($24.95, Quercus) about 40-year-old Liz Crane who returns to her family home on the shores of Lake Erie in southern Ontario with the intention of gathering data on the migration patterns of the monarch butterflies that leave Canada every winter for Mexico.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>As she re-establishes herself in the place where she grew up, a commercial fruit orchard that is still productive but falling into disrepair, she finds her attention being overtaken by the powerful memories of childhood and the generations that came before her. Never married, she realizes that she leaves no one to carry on the family line. This is a novel of the mind and heart where a life is examined against the metaphor of the monarch butterflies and their migrations. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Between a Mother and Her Child </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Elizabeth Noble ($15.00, Berkley, softcover) explores how a tragic death can tear apart the seemingly comfortable marriage of Maggie and Bill Barrett, and their three children. On December 26, 2004, their lives in London are shattered by news that their eldest son has been killed in a tsunami that left thousands dead. Maggie shuts down, unable to connect to her children or husband. Feeling isolated, Bill leaves to try to find some peace on his own and, when he announces he has fallen for another woman, Maggie finally realizes it’s time to move on and to pull her family back together. Her sister, on a visit, from Australia steps in to find a path to healing and it all adds up to a compelling story. Many baby boomers from the 50s and 60’s wake up to discover that the American dream they thought would be the pattern for their lives did not provide the answers they sought. Wallace Rogers debuts as a novel with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Byron’s Lane</b> ($15.99, London Street Press, softcover) He has been the mayor of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and manages a consulting business involving local governments. It never fails to amaze me where talent is found. In this novel, narrated through the thoughtful witness of his friend Tom, we follow Jonathan Adams as he examines his life at late middle age. A civil contract in Iraq, he thought he could improve people’s lives through democracy, but finds himself traumatized by his experiences there, bitter about a failed relationship, and distressed by the feeling he has become irrelevant in the new century. Baby boomers in particular will find this novel of interest, but it is a good read for anyone. The quest for meaning in one’s life is also found in Derek Sherman’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Race Across the Sky </b>($16.00, Plume, softcover. It spans two very different, but equally fascinating worlds, the cult of ultra-marathoners and the underbelly of the biotech industry. It is a story of the lengths a family will go to save each other. Caleb Oberest is the ultra-marathoner who left behind his workaholic life in New York and severed all ties to his family and friends to run the 100-mile marathons across treacherous mountains. His brother, Shane, is a sales rep for a cutting-edge biotechnology firm, creating new cures for disease. Despite his efforts, there were distances between him on Caleb and Caleb has fallen in love with a new member of his marathon group and her infant daughter. When he discovers the baby has a fatal disease, he reaches out to Shane. Much is at stake for both brothers and you will be turning the pages as fast as you can to find out how the story concludes.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Machiavelli—A Renaissance Life </span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Joseph Markulin ($21.95, Prometheus Books, softcover) could only have been written by a former professor of Italian and Comparative literature with a specialty in Medieval and Renaissance studies. The result is history in a novel during the turbulent era of Florence’s Medici family, the nefarious Borgias, and artists Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and the doomed prophet Savonarola. Machiavelli is famed for his instructions on governance, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prince</i>, but this novel fleshes out his life as he does his best to navigate Florentine Renaissance politics. It is a riveting story and will also impart a grasp of history you will find intriguing. Historical fiction is also found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Robert the Bruce </b>by Jack Whyte ($27.99, Forge Books), the second volume of his “The Guardians” series as he follows Scotland’s greatest heroes as they rise to glory and become legend. The first was devoted to William Wallace and this novel tells the story of a man who is remembered as a national hero and one of Scotland’s greatest kings. It is a hefty volume at 573 pages and will satisfy anyone who enjoys the fully-told story of the decades-long path of the struggle for Scottish freedom. In May 1328, King Edward III signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton that recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom and Bruce as its king.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O832BvRx3RE/UiCgLTZIR6I/AAAAAAAAL2s/fvPRNPFXdQ8/s1600/Cover+-+The+Return.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O832BvRx3RE/UiCgLTZIR6I/AAAAAAAAL2s/fvPRNPFXdQ8/s200/Cover+-+The+Return.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The passing of the great novelist Elmore Leonard in August was a reminder of how blessed we are with the talents of superb storytellers. Leonard started out writing westerns and when that market lost its appeal he switched to writing the crime novels on which his reputation is based. My friend, James D. Best, seems to be making a similar journey because he is arguably one of the best writers of westerns, but his newest novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Return</b>, ($12.95 Wheatmark, softcover) featuring Steve Dancy, a character from several of his previous novels, is set in the East. It is the summer of 1880 and Dancy has returned to New York from two years of misadventures in the West. Thomas Edison’s invention of the incandescent light bulb is about to put the gaslight industry out of business and Dancy sets out to obtain a license to sell electric lamps. Edison agrees on one condition; that he and his friends stop the saboteurs who are disrupting the electrification of Wall Street. That is just the beginning of Dancy’s newest set of challenges, along with the woman he has brought back with him and a feud that began out west and could cost him Edison’s backing. The action never stops until you get to the last page. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s it for September! So far the year has been filled with new non-fiction and fiction to satisfy any interest and there is still more to come as autumn ushers in many new books in anticipation of the Christmas season. Tell your book-living family, friends and co-workers about Bookviews.com where they will find news of these new books.</span></b></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-78740664064407226662013-07-28T09:36:00.006-07:002013-08-30T06:29:51.106-07:00Bookviews - August 2013<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">By Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xezvAp9mUzc/UfVG7s--rCI/AAAAAAAALig/mEf1aD1c-nQ/s1600/Cover+-+BlackBookoftheAmericanLeft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xezvAp9mUzc/UfVG7s--rCI/AAAAAAAALig/mEf1aD1c-nQ/s200/Cover+-+BlackBookoftheAmericanLeft.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">David Horowitz, founder of FrontPageMag.com and the child of two members of the Communist Party, longtime progressive, had an epiphany when a friend of his was killed by the Black Panthers, masquerading as the New Left in the 1970s. Since then he has devoted his life to warning against the deadly agenda of communism and exposing the lies of the progressives whose agenda has always been the destruction of American values. His latest book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Black Book of the American Left</b>, ($27.99, Encounter Books) is a collection of his writings and speeches since then and provides alarming insights to the way communism in Russia and elsewhere has resulted in the murder of tens of millions. Its strength is in its revelations of how the Left has worked to undermine the nation to fulfill its utopian fantasies and its weakness is that it repeats itself over the course of nearly 400 pages. As a guide to the Left, it is invaluable, filled with many insights along with the facts he cites. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HMfE03daJm0/UfVHCfxcQUI/AAAAAAAALio/02aLNnuD5lc/s1600/Cover+-+America's+Way+Back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HMfE03daJm0/UfVHCfxcQUI/AAAAAAAALio/02aLNnuD5lc/s200/Cover+-+America's+Way+Back.jpg" width="142" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">For those with a passion for the nation and its system of governance, there’s Donald J. Devine’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">America’s Way Back: Reclaiming Freedom, Tradition, and Constitution </b>($29.95, ISI Books). Devine has spent most of his life as an academic, a professor at the University of Maryland and at Bellevue University, teaching governance and politics. In the 1980’s Ronald Reagan tapped him to be the Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in his first term. He trimmed 100,000 jobs and saved more than $6 billion by reducing generous benefits. He has written eight books and this one examines the tensions between freedom and the need for a system that does not allow too much power to be acquired by any element of the U.S. government. He discusses the role of tradition including the influence of Judeo-Christian values in governance. The U.S. Constitution is the oldest active one and a remarkable instrument. The book is filled with lots of information and insights that apply to the nation’s present problems and challenges. An interesting corollary is Radley Balko’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces </b>($27.99, Public Affairs) which was on display in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing when SWAT teams went house to house in one neighborhood to find the terrorist who was still at large. What is generally unknown, however, is that such teams “violently smash into private homes more than a hundred times per day” and police departments across the nation now have armored personnel carriers designed for use on the battlefield, while others have helicopters, tanks, and Humvees, as well as military-grade weapons. It is a different mindset from daily police work and is coming to dominate law enforcement. This is one of those books that raises important questions and, as you read it, some scary ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">In this scary economy, many homeowners are facing foreclosure and if that is you or someone you know, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Foreclosure Phenomenon: How to Defend Your Home from an Impending Foreclosure </b>($24.99, Telemachus Press, softcover) by Joaquin F. Benitez who experienced losing his home. His is an inspiring story of an immigrant who subsequently earned a diploma in civil engineering and his book is intended to help anyone with a step-by-step guide to help save one’s home, strategies to deal with three different types of financial situation, how to calculate property value, and how to address the emotional, physical, and mental toll of a foreclosure proceeding. He counsels, too, that even a loss can free one from the burden that is no longer affordable and open a door to a new life. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yPnP0cFY2II/UfVHNdUpHWI/AAAAAAAALiw/QrxYr6b6x8M/s1600/Cover+-+Invisible+Worlds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yPnP0cFY2II/UfVHNdUpHWI/AAAAAAAALiw/QrxYr6b6x8M/s200/Cover+-+Invisible+Worlds.jpg" width="153" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Some books are just extraordinary works of art in addition to their texts. From the world of science comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Invisible Worlds: Exploring Microcosms </b>by Julie Coquart ($49.95, H.F. Ullmann) which is a large format book filled with 99 extraordinary photos of the tiniest things on Earth. It is microphotography devoted to nature, biology, chemistry, medicine, mineralogy, and textiles, all in full color, and all revealing the astonishing way everything is designed to function from the dental enamel coating your teeth to the Penicillin that prevents the spread of certain bacteria or the Salmonella bacteria we call food poisoning. The simplest handful of sand takes on amazing shapes and colors. Clearly, this book is not everyone’s cup of tea, but for those who love science and see into the microscopic world around them, this book would make a great birthday or holiday gift. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Learning Las Vegas: Portrait of a Northern New Mexican Place</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">by Elizabeth Barlow Rogers ($39.95, Museum of New Mexico Press and Foundation of Landscape Studies) is devoted to “The other Las Vegas”, a town that is seven hundred miles from the one in Nevada, but they might as well be on different planets. It is a small town that the author, the founding president of the Central Park Conservancy and the Foundation for Landscape Studies, has chosen in order to examine “the meaning of place in human life.” You surely do not have to be from this town to appreciate its streetscape, its architecture, and public places, such as the plaza that is a venue for numerous events. Her text is enhanced by her many photos. The town’s location made it an important stop on the Santa Fe Trail and today it is on the National Register of Historic Places. Anyone with an interest in architecture, landscapes, and how location leaves its mark on those who live in a particular place will thoroughly enjoy “learning” that Las Vegas was a Wild West outlaw Mecca, a major trading center, a railroad hub and a film lo